Reawakened Revolution
by DragonScouter
Summary: Having been trapped on Earth for over a million years, Marquis lives life one day at a time. He hopes to see his Dragonian family again...or to decimate some Crassen...that is Cybertronians. His plans are stopped when both Dragonians and Crassen find him! Continuation from Dragonian Revolution. Rated T because I am paranoid.
1. Existence Now

**AN: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend. Oh, and if you could, please read The Dragonian Revolution before reading this. It gives the background to what is going on and will help understand some points in the story.**

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 **Authoress: Now it is time for Marquis to be in the present day! Yeah!**

 **Marquis: As long as I don't run into any of those Crassen I will be alright.**

 **Authoress: I think we are good for now.**

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Ch. 1: Existence Now

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Three more weeks. All I had to do was survive three more weeks of this self-induced torture and I would at last know true freedom. Freedom away from the oppression, the horror, the utter agony that I had been forced to face for the last nine months of my life. But, until then, I had to suffer each and every minute of this forced torture.

The sound of a bell ringing brought me out of my thoughts as the humans in front of me rose out of their seats to leave this prison for the day. What sort of prison let their detainees leave for periods of the day? Well, the answer to that was quite simple.

High school.

And no, I wasn't lucky enough to be living as a student this life around. No, I had decided to disguise myself this time around as the history teacher whose name was George Alexander Lafayette. Of course, my students called me 'Frenchy' half the time due to my last name and my, what they called, heavy French accent. I had many of my fellow teachers approach me and ask me if I was alright with these high schoolers calling me that. In response, I had laughed and responded with saying that I needed to expand the voice of the young, for they would one day shape our future. If they felt like calling me Frenchy was a way of expressing themselves, then I wouldn't top them. Besides, it was just a word. I had no reason to get worked up over it.

"Hey Frenchy, when is that essay due?" Clair Keller asked me. She was a hard working student, with family roots that traced to Germany. When she wasn't at school, she said she liked to paint pictures in the desert. I had even purchased one of the sunset. She had a bright future.

Looking at my lesson planner, I sighed and said, "Don't worry Clair, the essay isn't due until Monday. How far are you in it?"

She let out a laugh. "I'm almost done."

"Of course you are." I laughed back before saying, "But, if you take advice from me, then I would wait until this weekend to finish."

In return, she raised an eyebrow. "You, as a teacher, are telling me to procrastinate?"

"Yes." I answered. "At least until after our joint field trip this Thursday and Friday with Ms. Anderson's last period music class."

In return, Clair nodded and said, "That seems like a good idea." When she smirked, I had a feeling that this might not end well for me. "And another good idea for me would be to get out of here while you wake up Nakadai." She then bolted out of the door.

I sighed as I glanced over at the sleeping foreign exchange student. Her history book was laying in front of her and her head was face down on her doodle book. I knew it was a doodle book because I had caught her messing with it in the beginning of the year. I told her that it would be alright as long as she was passing my class. So far she was…barely. This essay due Monday would see if she would be made or broken.

Waking her up was no fun task either. I woke her up the first time and I ended up with a broken nose. There was 'blood' everywhere. I made it so my soliform mimicked what happened to regular humans when they got an injury. I never regretted it until then. Some of the girls, fainted and everyone else was panicking. Thankfully, Sarah, that is Ms. Anderson, had been returning to her classroom when this happened and helped get everyone calmed down, and awake.

Now, I had perfected a way to wake up Ms. Nakadai without major injury.

"Ms. Nakadai, if you don't wake up, then I will have to call your host parents." The young girl's eyes snapped open and she glanced around before saying, "Where is everyone?" She then looked up at the clock then at me before she sighed and said, "I fell asleep again?"

Nodding, I motioned to her book before saying, "You are still passing my class Ms. Nakadai, but remember that this upcoming essay due Monday will make or break your grade for the year."

She nodded and was about to say something when the sound of honking drew both of our attentions outside. Like clockwork, the green SUV was there to pick her up like it had for the past five months. At first, I had been curious about it but, now, it was just another part of life. "Oh, got to go. See ya tomorrow teach!"

"And don't forget to get your permission slip for the field trip Miko. It's due tomorrow!" I yelled after her.

"You'll have it Frenchy!" She yelled before she got out of the door.

I was pretty sure that girl made all of this much more stressful. I didn't have this many problems with Robin Locksley when we crossed passed back during the middle ages. That man was childish but that girl had him beat.

"I'm pretty sure this field trip will kill us."

I looked next to me at my red haired brown eyed 'childhood' friend Sarah Anderson as she stepped forward. We both came from Montana to teach down here when we got laid off. Thankfully, we found two positions open in this small town that we specialized in, myself in world history since ancient Sumer and her in music. Plus, in a small town, we could have a lot of fun with our classes. Including this field trip to Carson City to look at the culture and history that was available for exhibit.

In response to her however, I smirked. "Well, we all have to go sometime. Why not teaching rambunctious upstarts?"

In return, she laughed, "I swear George, I can't take you anywhere." She then let out another laugh and said, "Of course, at least I don't have to watch Nakadai. That might just kill you."

Hilarious. She had definitely inherited her ancestor's gene of making me nervous. The ancestor I was talking about was the reason why she and I were good friends, or how we even knew each other now. If it wasn't for him, I would most likely not still reside in America.

"Of course Sarah, and you will be dragged into whatever mess I am when those two friends of hers in our class, Jackson Darby and Rafael Esquivel, try and stop her. You remember the spring carnival a few weeks ago?" In which Ms. Nakadai somehow managed to bring down the stage and all the lights while trapping herself and her two friends with her so all three of them got in trouble.

Her face fell at that. "Dang, I forgot about them being friends. Well, there went the rest of my sanity." Sarah then turned to leave the school before saying, "So, you got any plans tonight? I'm making my famous ravioli tonight."

As tempting as that ravioli sounded, I had other plans. "I would love to but I have a date with some tests our wards took last Friday." I then pointed at the small stack of tests that were on my desk.

In return, Sarah shrugged her shoulders before saying, "Maybe another day then. I'll see you tomorrow." She then walked toward the doors.

Smirking, I nodded. "Of course. Wouldn't want to be late for our inmates?" Laughter was the response she gave me as she walked out the doors.

Once the doors were closed, I sighed as I walked to sit at my desk. Right now, we were going over America's history and, unfortunately, this subject always opened old wounds. I thought that teaching for ten years now would have made it easier, but that did not happen. Plus, since this was my first year here in Jasper, then I knew that it would be even harder to cope with since I wasn't used to everything around me.

Not only did this subject bring back memories of Dragonia and how similar our past was to America, but it took me back to when I lived during that time, when I was an…well, and aide-de-kamp to the Marquis de Lafayette. And he so happened to be Sarah's ancestor.

Way back when, before I had met the Lafayette, I had been living a life of a rising politician in France when I had met the young man. He was to be travelling to America to offer his services to this American Revolution and asked me to come with him. I was more than gracious to accept, curious about how America had developed since the time I was down in the southern part of that part of the globe as a pirate. However, I hadn't actually made it much into America and I was curious as to how the colony was fighting the British.

But, I didn't realize then how big of an impact their Revolution would have on me. It was so similar to the Dragonian Revolution that I had been nervous the whole time. I knew that Benedict Arnold would betray them because he had acted so much like Anarcum. General Washington was almost a male human copy of Pandimala and it had been a privilege to meet him and work with him.

When the battle of Yorktown came, I was extremely nervous about our alliance to France and I told both Washington and Lafayette this. However, they had faith in the French. So, I had stayed at headquarters during that final battle and waited for word that the French had betrayed us.

…But it never came.

I think that was what hit me most. Dragonia's ally had stabbed us in the back and we had lost the Revolution, our General Chaom offlined. However, France had stayed true to the American people and the battle of Yorktown had been the turning point that led to America's victory in their Revolution.

I looked down at a test I had in my hand and scanned the answers in comparison to my key and sighed when one of the answer's I thought was obvious got missed terribly. "Washington was from Virginia, not Maryland." I sighed as I marked the answer wrong. Sometimes, these new generations made me worry for the future of this country and all that their ancestors fought for…what I had fought for.

Originally, I had planned to leave America after the Revolution and, for a small time, I did. But, when Lafayette and I returned to France, he became the first human to find out that I was not so human. Thankfully, the man was able to take my true form in stride without thinking that I was some demon and had to be destroyed. The Marquis de Lafayette said that he would keep my secret under one condition. While he understood my dream to return to Pandimala once mankind created the technology for deep space travel, he made me promise that, until that time came, that I would watch out for his generations that followed.

And, right before the American Civil War, that promise brought me back to this country and had kept me here ever since. I had fought for the North to free the slaves, I had fought in the war theater in Europe during WWI and had helped retaliate against the Japanese after they attacked Pearl Harbor in WWII. However, I was able to avoid the draft for both Vietnam and Korea by getting my teaching license and going to school. I had never seen the point of us fighting over there and, for a small time, I had been a hippie. After that, however, I came into this soliform and 'grew up' with Sarah.

"Are you kidding me?" I growled as I looked at this test belonging to Vince. He normally did alright on the obvious ones but this one was stealing the cake. "Unlike in my own situation, France did not betray the Revolution!" That was irritating. I had thrown that question in there for people to get extra points but, somehow, this idiot had gotten it wrong!

…I shouldn't say idiot. I was a teacher this time around and not a student. It wasn't appropriate for me to say that…or think it in this case. I was supposed to be professional.

Once I finished grading the tests, I stood up and glanced outside to see that it was almost dark out with only a few rays of sunshine to light the way home. Perfect timing. Once I gathered my papers and personal items, I walked out of the school and made my way to walking home. Yes, I had my alt mode and vehicles were around now that I could scan and safely stay hidden, but my alt mode was too sporty for an area like this. I only took it out to exercise the gears and to get it washed. Other than that, I walked. Even in the snow.

Of course, that helped with the fact that I had kept my long cloak given to me at Valley Forge by Lafayette himself in perfect condition over the years and it still kept me plenty warm. My whole outfit was pretty much still from that time and it was another reason that the children called me Frenchy.

Glancing up at the sky, I sighed as I saw the stars twinkling in the night. Every time I looked at them, like Pandimala said to, I thought of Dragonia, of her and all the other generals. Chaom and his sense of justice, Vox and his wit and determination, Scallion and his need to find out all the answers, Chorale and her sense of optimism when all hope was gone, Comet Gale and his crazy brothers and sister, Aranzer and is flexibility and his organization Cirkus, and finally Jabberwocky and how she charged into battle without hesitation and was always there for backup. Besides Chaom, who I knew was offline, were any of the others still alive?

And that had my thoughts going to my own aide-de-kamp Once-Ler. He must have been devastated to hear of my offlining. Was he still alright? That mech had been one of my closest friends outside the leadership circle and I hoped that, one day, I would meet the green mech again and see him use that weapon on his back that he called a Thneed. With just a few strums of the Thneed, Once-Ler could turn it into any weapon that he had data on.

Once I arrived at my house, I opened the door and walked inside. The set up inside was simply enough and the only things out of the ordinary were my collection of artifacts that I had saved throughout the ages. A chisel from my time in Ancient Sumer, Duamutef the canopic jar I received from Pharaoh Menes in Egypt, an unseen draft page of the Illiad from Homer, a sandal from the Spartan Leonidas, a poem from Sophocles, an extra sword from Alexander the Great, the dagger that Brutus used to kill Julius Ceaser, silk cloth from Marco Polo, a map from Christopher Columbus, one of King Henry the VIII robes, a rough draft of 'Macbeth' from Shakespeare, a prototype telescope from Galileo, notes from Isaac Newton, a pistol from Lafayette, a spare pair of Washington's glasses, a rough draft of the Constitution…

And the point was that I pretty much had a museum that would make any other museum jealous because I got every single one of these artifacts first hand. Of course, the ones on display now where copies I made and the originals were in my subspace. I had many more items but these were the ones that were on display right now. I got around pretty well, now that I looked back. This planet, while I still viewed it as a sort of prison keeping me from seeing my selanitra, had experienced so much I such a short time span.

I cleared my thoughts as I hopped into the shower and washed off. While I really didn't need to do this, I picked up the habit of bathing myself when I was around the Roman Empire and I was invited quite often to the public baths by official politicians. Also, I had found that 'cleaning' my soliform actually helped take some of the stress away from the day.

After about five minutes, I was relaxed enough so I turned off the water before I changed into my sleep garments. As strange as they were, I found the gown itself quite comfortable when sleeping. I did get rid of the stockings and the night cap, but the gown itself was a part of my sleep routine.

Once that was done, I went to the kitchen and warmed up some leftover Blanquette de Veau with a glass of red Bordeaux. I would forever be grateful for the Marquis de Lafayette and his family for introducing me to this meal combination and even giving me the recipe for the Blanquette de Veau. It had taken me only a few months after I started using a soliform to learn how to eat with it and use the energy from the food and convert it to energon. I was grateful because the energon deposits that I had detected when I arrived to this planet had spread themselves out far and wide.

"Well, time to get some rest." I muttered to myself after my meal was done. Setting my dishes by the sink, I made my way to my bedroom before laying down on my bed and glancing up at the ceiling to clear my mind.

Like every time I tried to relax, my memories from my past flooded through my head. Arriving on Dragonia and meeting Chaom and Pandimala, fighting side by side many Dragonians fighting for our freedom, nights where us in the inner circle would sit around a fire and just have fun telling stories and playing games.

Our army was never focused on war. We were a family…we still are a family. One day, once I was able to get my hands on deep space technology, I would leave and find them so once again we could share moments like we used to. Back when we were all happy and as one. We shared all the pain, happiness, sorrow, and joy that every member of our family felt and we took vengeance.

And that was another of my plans. If I ever ran into any Crassen here on Earth, then I would not hesitate to put them down. Hopefully, I would be able to draw it out for what they did to my selanitra and Chaom. To all of us who had fought so hard for our freedom.

Glancing at the clock next to me, I saw that it was already ten o'clock and that meant that I had better get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day and I knew that I wanted to get through the rest of this school year in peace. That was what I really wanted.

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 **Marquis: I have a feeling that something is going to happen on this field trip.**

 **Authoress: Yes, of course there is. But, it might not be as obvious as you think it is to guess. If you do, I would be impressed. Of course, the best is to come near the end of it.**

 **Marquis: ...What does that mean? *turns to see Authoress vanished***

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 **AN: Adn here is the new story! I am uber excited for this one and I can't wait to get this flowing. As time line goes, I think it is at the beginning of season 2 where Bumblebee already lost his t-cog but before the next episode. Up until the t-cog part, don't try and assume what is going to happen based on the show. I am planning many changes and they will turn your heads untl they pop off! *evil laughter*...Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Until next time, drop a review...even to say hi, and then we can meet and have smores over the roasting Starscream! So...TTYL! *cooking smores***


	2. Field Trip Mania

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

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 **Marquis: Why do I get the feeling that this field trip is going to put me in my grave?**

 **Authoress: *shrugs* Maybe because you are paranoid?**

 **Marquis: It's your fault I'm paranoid so why don't you tell me?**

 **Authoress: *shakes head* Not my fault that you can't go anywhere without something happening.**

 **Marquis: *yells* Yes it is!**

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Ch. 2: Field Trip Mania

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Alright everyone, let's get on the bus!" Sarah yelled at the children in line as we got on the bus.

It was now three o'clock in the morning Thursday and, as expected, most of the students were half asleep. While the drive to Carson City was going to be just over four hours, Sarah and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible for the students to enjoy as much of Carson City that they could before we came back Friday night. For today, our first stop was going to be a history museum that had recently opened.

Actually, I had met the director briefly before and managed to get us all access passes to the museum and a top of the line tour that would have normally cost us a pretty penny. However, I did have to give up some of the replicas from my personal collection. Thankfully, those replicas could be replaced. Also, because of the quality of some of the items, I was able to get the director to let me alone access to an exhibit that is not open yet.

"Hey Frenchy, you getting on the bus?" Miko yelled out at me.

I jumped when I realized that everyone else was already on the bus except for myself. Letting out a laugh, I walked onto the bus before saying, "Well, I guess we can hit the road now!"

Half of the students looked at me like they wanted to kill me. The other half were already asleep. Guess they weren't used to getting up so early. I blamed all the wars that I had fought in. Now, I rarely needed four hours of sleep.

Walking onto the bus, I sat down in an empty set of seats before looking out the window. So many journeys that I had made but, for some reason, something was telling me that this trip was going to be different. I wasn't sure why though. I had been on raids on Nottingham with Robin Hood, I had sailed the high seas with Jack Sparrow, explored America as Lafayette's ancestors moved west. In comparison, this was miniscule.

But, as the bus started to move, that feeling returned. What would happen today? I had been through much, and Jasper was such a small town, that I doubted that anything could happen to us that would be anywhere near as significant as I was feeling.

However, I knew not to ignore this feeling either. In many cases, this feeling had saved me from many an injury and had helped me follow a path in life. It was one of these feelings that had actually let me meet the Marquis de Lafayette. So, I would make sure that I kept an eye out for something different that would affect me and my future.

"You are way too deep in thought for this early in the morning." Sarah said from the two seats across from me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I leaned back before saying, "Maybe, but it helps my mind stay awake. If I fall asleep, I'm not sure that I will be able to wake up." And also the distance that we were travelling away from my chassis had me worried.

When I had first used a soliform on this planet, I was able to have it on the other side of the world without much worry. But, as newer and newer technology came into play, the distance I could have my soliform away from my chassis became shorter and shorter. This trip to Carson City had me worried about me accidently fading out and one of my student's noticing. That would not happen. With today's ability to spread around information like wildfire, I had to be extremely careful about keeping up the false sense of me being a human.

In return, Sarah shrugged her shoulders before saying, "Well, whatever. I'm going to get some sleep then since you can be up to help with anything that comes up." She then laid down across her two seats and, not long after, I could hear the sound of her sleeping.

A small smile crossed my face as I watched her sleep. She always held something knew for me to learn and, for the first time since Lafayette himself, I found myself truly friends with a member of his line. His other members I would say that I was acquaintances with but Sarah, she someone latched onto me and didn't let go.

The trip to the city went by faster than I thought it would and, it felt like in no time, it was already seven o'clock and we were pulling up to our first stop of today; Denny's. With the windows up, I had a feeling that it was going to take a special announcement to get everyone moving. So, once the bus was at a full stop, I walked up to the driver and pointed to the radio that connected to the bus's speakers.

Once he nodded, I smirked and picked it up. "Alright everyone, this is your morning wake up!" I yelled into it, causing everyone to jump up awake and seventy five percent of the students to glare at me. But, I was about to make it better. "I was going to let you all sleep but then I figured you might want some breakfast." I pointed out the window as I said this. "But, I guess I'll just have to eat by myself."

The words were barely out of my mouth before a crowd of students came rushing by me and out the doors. I had to quickly grab onto the bus dash board to keep from falling down the stairs and getting trampled. After a minute, the last stragglers were moving forward and I straightened myself out as Sarah walked up and frowned. "You know, I was enjoying my sleep. But, food is a good excuse to get up." She then motioned out of the bus. "Come one. I'll by breakfast if you ask nice."

"That's only because that means that I will have to buy dinner." I muttered before saying, "May I escort you to breakfast milady?" I then stepped down to the ground before holding my hand out to her.

In return, she shook her head and took my hand. "You know Marquis, I can't tell if you are old fashioned or up with this generation. Maybe I'll find out one of these days?"

"Maybe." I chuckled as the two of us walked inside. The students were all already at seats and getting their orders, the poor workers looking like they were going to have a heart attack trying to get everyone's orders right and getting everyone their drinks.

Soon, our server came up to Sarah and me before leading us to a booth across from a table that sat Clair, Miko, Rafael Esquivel, and Jackson Darby. Jackson was in the same class as Miko, but during the morning part of the class, and Rafael was taking my advanced history class first period and he was getting very good grades in it. Maybe he was the one helping Miko with my class? I would have to ask him about tutoring her. I didn't like seeing students fail but I would not give them the grade.

"So, what is the plan for today?" Sarah asked me as we waited for our food to come.

Motioning to the kids, I said, "We are going to go to the Capitol Building first and I think I have done enough research on the building to give a satisfactory tour for our students. I think we should try and get there not too long after nine. That way we can look around without all of the crowds since this is the busy time."

"That sounds good." Sarah commented. "And then we can go to the Bower's Mansion. One of my old college friends gives tours on the weekends and has agreed to give us a special tour today. But, we have to be there by eleven. Plus, there is a picnic area so we can order lunch for the kids and eat outdoors."

I frowned at that. "I have a funny feeling that I am going to be paying for this lunch."

In return, she laughed. "Of course you are George. You are the one that inherited the big bucks. I don't make enough on my salary to pay for it."

"Well, if that is how fate tells it." I sighed and smiled. "But we are getting it delivered. I don't think our bus driver would be too happy if he had to run me out to pick up the pizza."

Our food then arrived so the two of us had to stop talking as we ate. I had a simple breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast. Sarah had some sort of supreme omelet that looked too full to be edible. But, she was going at it so I wasn't going to say anything. Last time I dared try to ask a woman about her eating habits was when I asked Cleopatra about her eating. In return, she had thrown me into the Nile.

I was still getting the sight of those Nile Crocodiles out of my head.

Once she had eaten her omelet, and I had finished my breakfast, she motioned to me and said, "We'll probably stay at the park for a few hours so the kids can work off the pizza. Once that is done though, I think that it would be a good idea for us to head to that new history museum that your friend is the director of. It is going to take us a few hours to get through that and then that can end our scheduled day. We can let the kids go off with their groups after that and have them meet us at the hotel."

"Yes, but remember," I started, "if something happens that seems like it could be dangerous to the children if we stay, we make a beeline straight back to Jasper. Even though the likelihood of that happening is slim, the school said that they would give the students Friday off if it happened like that."

She nodded and looked down at her watch. "Well, if we want to keep up this schedule, then we had best start moving." She then stood and turned to where the kids were sitting. "Alright everyone, bus leaves in five minutes. Take care of what you need, pay your bills, and let's keep moving."

At her word, everyone got up and started to take care of what they needed. Guess they weren't going to risk getting lost in the city yet…or maybe they wanted to behave so they could go off on their own for those few hours after the museum that we got to go off alone.

 **Miko's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Great…a boring museum next. While the pizza we had early was amazing, and we all had Mr. Lafayette to thank for that, I did not find the idea of going to a history museum very exciting. I would so rather be with Bulkhead smashing up some dunes. That would be a lot more fun. But, since we had only had to pay five dollars each to pay for the bus, this trip was too good to pass up. Plus, after this museum, we were going to be allowed to go off in groups around the city and do whatever we wanted. I had a fake I.D. all ready to sneak into the casinos. I was going to be raking in the money big time and it was going to be awesome. Of course, I would have to avoid getting caught but I had that covered. When Ratchet wasn't looking, I had 'borrowed' the main console and made myself a flawless fake I.D. with it. No one was going to be able to tell the difference.

"Miko, don't cause any trouble." Jack said with a knowing look toward me.

What? "I'm not going to cause trouble." Much. If there were any limits out of bounds, I was going to go and see them. Those were the areas that held all of the secret government stuff. I mean, we were pretty deep in the secret stuff as it was but this would take the cake. Plus, I had to do well on this essay for Frenchy or I wouldn't be able to doodle in his class anymore. I liked doodling and I didn't like history. But, I had to do well in the latter to be able to do the former. Any inaccessible areas meant that was where the good history stuff would be.

Jack, in response to what I said, shook his head. "Whatever, just remember that Optimus said if you act up here that he wouldn't let you go dune bashing with Bulkhead this weekend when we got back."

At that, I crossed my arms and slouched in my seat. Optimus just had to ruin all my fun. Well, there went the idea of me going to the casino during our free time. Lately, all the bots had been pretty wound up and all of us had tried to figure out what was going on. But, no one was saying. My plan this weekend was to force Bulkhead to tell me what was going on when we were dune bashing alone. And, to do that, I had to be good during this trip.

"Aright, we are here everyone!" Frenchy said as the bus stopped. Looking out my window, I frowned. It even looked like a really boring museum. This was going to be the worst torture ever! I would so rather be with the Decepticons being tortured then have to stay here for any length of time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much say in the matter.

Ms. Anderson then stood up and said, "Now, each of you need to stay in groups since we are allowing you all to go off on your own after the main tour. Until then, I want all of you to follow me to the building doors. There should be a guide waiting for us to get started."

We all then rushed off of the bus behind Ms. Anderson and I couldn't wait to get this tour over. At least when we were on our own, we were going to be able to explore and have some fun. I was so going to be taking pictures to send to Bulkhead. He would love that! "Come on guys, let's go have some fun!" I yelled before grabbing Jack's and Raf's arms and dragging them behind me.

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I watched as Sarah led the children with the tour guide. The tour itself was about an hour and a half and I knew that was plenty of time to look at my special exhibit that Alex, my director friend, had opened just for me. Sarah was already aware that I was going to be at this exhibit alone during the tour and said that she was fine watching the kids since she was going to have the guide there to help.

"George." I turned when I heard my name come from my right and I smiled as my friend Alex Johnson walked up. "I don't know why you picked that song with the exhibit, since they are from two different times, but the exhibit is ready for you to look at. The music is on a loop so you'll just have to go in and look. I owe you big time for that mess you got me out of and I feel like this isn't enough."

As he led me back behind the scenes toward the new exhibit, I smiled and said, "Don't worry about it Alex. This makes up for it in more ways than you know." And it was going to. For these six thousand years, I had been working so hard on laying the pain of the Dragonian Revolution and its failure to rest. I would return one day and free my home. But first I needed to let go.

And I was hoping that looking at this new exhibit would help me to do just that.

After a few minutes, we came to a door that was shut, but there was definitely a light coming from inside the room. "Alright George, it should just be about to restart so just walk on in and enjoy. The video should be just a few minutes, the length of the song, but stay in there for as long as you want."

In return, I nodded toward him before he walked away. Once he disappeared from sight, I turned to the room and let out a shaky sigh before saying, "Well, I had best get this over with. The kids will be curious if I am gone for too long." I then opened the door and made my way to a single bench that faced a screen that just turned off.

Drums echoed in the room as the screen in front of me lit up. I could see that the scene in front of me was a reenactment of the Revolution. The song, however, I learned by heart as soon as I heard it. The Battle Hymn of the Republic. In the video, a young man stood in front of the Congress and was asking for a commission. This was a representation of the Marquis de Lafayette. But, this was also identical to how I had approached the consulate.

 _Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;_

 _He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of_

 _Wrath are stored;_

 _He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible_

 _Swift sword;_

 _His truth is marching on._

The scene soon changed and I felt tears prick at my eyes as I watched the actor Lafayette meeting George Washington and Alexander Hamilton at a small bar. My processor suddenly went to that fateful day when I met General Chaom and General Vox…and when I met Chief General Pandimala. As I watched, I felt sharp pain flare from my chest and the tears were slowly dropping from my eyes.

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _His truth is marching on._

After that, the scene went to Valley Forge as the soldiers trained mercilously to combat the cold and the British. But, my eyes could only see myself on Forge Mountain with my fellow Dragonians working hard to become a better trained army to face the Iaconians and their allies. I could see Pandimala helping those who had fallen and myself following her lead.

 _I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling_

 _Camps;_

 _They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and_

 _Damps;_

 _I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring_

 _Lamps;_

 _His day is marching on._

My mind flashed to one night when we in the inner circle were hosted by Plena Teo, the speaker of the consulate, and all nine of us inner circle generals were enjoying some peace and relaxing. Scallion let out a joke about Chorale and, in return, Jabberwocky slammed him on his helm. That had the whole table laughing.

My spark felt like it was going to explode as I continued to listen, tears now streaming down my face due to everything that I had lost, all the sacrifices that were made…in vain.

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _His day is marching on._

The video then flashed to a scene of a battle, bodies strewn everywhere and streams of blood flowed everywhere that the eye could see. So much loss just to fight for one cause that united all of these different humans. A belief in a better future that had them all laying down their lives.

 _I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel;_

 _"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall_

 _Deal;_

 _Let the hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,_

 _Since God is marching on."_

My mind turned to the many Dragonian battlefields that I had borne witness to during our long revolution. So many Dragonians who had given up limb, processor, and life just to win us our freedom from the snakes that were the Crassen. We all shed our energon for one cause, and behind one leader that we firmly believed in and who listened to each voice with an open processor and spark.

No longer could my body stay sitting and I felt myself falling to my knees, tears of pain still streaking down my face and pain lacing through my soliform.

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Since God is marching on._

Then, to my dismay, the scene on the screen. This was the battle that changed everything. To the American people it was called the Battle of Yorktown. It was a great turning point in their Revolutionary War that sounded the end for the British and gave birth to a grand nation.

 _He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call_

 _Retreat;_

 _He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement_

 _Seat;_

 _Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant,_

 _My feet!_

 _Our God is marching on._

But, to my true self, this scene only brought pain. This, to me, was the battle that changed everything, and not for the better. To a Dragonian, this was the Battle of Prodiada. It spelled out the loss of the Dragonian Revolution and cost us our great General Chaom. This battle sounded the solemn tone that told of millions of years of torment for our citizens.

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Since God is marching on._

All that we had given up, all that we had strived for, why couldn't those Crassen understand that we just wanted rights like them? That was all the Revolution was for. It was just to show them that if they were not going to give us equal rights, then we would take them. But, they were too greedy. The Crassen liked to take our resources and not give us a single say in the matter. Well, we fought to show them that we were intelligent Children of Primus as well and we did not back down.

 _In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the_

 _Sea,_

 _With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;_

 _As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,_

 _While God is marching on._

This video was supposed to make moving on easier. Why wasn't it working? All it did was bring up these memories for me and make it even harder to deal with the fact that everything was gone and I wasn't sure when I was going to get it back. I knew that I wasn't going to get all of it back. Chaom was offline and only Primus knew who else that I knew and fought besides was still online.

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, glory! Hallelujah!_

 _While God is marching on_

Those Crassen were going to pay. No matter when I ran into them, they were going to pay. I would make each death as painful as the suffering each and every Dragonian was experiencing and had ever experienced due to their betrayal. If I ever found the slimy snake Starscream, I would make sure that he suffered until I found Pandimala, and I would allow her to finish him off in whatever way she wanted.

I continued to kneel there and watched the looped video, remembering everything that went on in the past and promising myself that I would take revenge.

 **Raf's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Miko, you are going to get us in trouble." I whispered to said girl as she led Jack and I into an area that was off limits. Of course, this was Miko we were talking about so it wasn't that surprising.

In return, she motioned ahead and said, "This is our free time and I want to know where Frenchy went off to. This is a history museum and he wasn't there for the entire tour. I couldn't sneak off then because Ms. Anderson kept watching me. I think she has some third sense or something." Miko then continued forward.

"Or maybe she has heard what trouble Miko can get in away from the bots." Jack muttered to me.

"What was that?" Miko demanded as we stopped in a gallery room with lots of statues. On the wall to our left was a power box. It was probably there only while they worked on this room.

"Nothing!" Jack immediately took back. Yeah, we didn't want to get Miko mad during her little escapade or she would go off on her own and get into even more trouble. At least here we could keep an eye on her.

The lights flickering above us had all of us stopping and looking around. Blame it on our time with the bots but whenever something strange happened, the three of us had gotten pretty good and paying attention…for the most part with Miko. "This is a new area. There shouldn't be an issue with the power since it is so close to the power box." I muttered.

"That is unless someone like us overloaded the security cameras."

The three of us jumped and looked ahead and, at first, we just saw darkness. However, as the three of us drew in closer together, very familiar people came out in their gray uniforms and face masks with goggles. After a minute, the man who spoke, their leader Silas, came into the light. "MECH!" Jack growled as he stood in front of us.

In return, Silas smirked. "Yes Jackson. When you were in Jasper, you always had your little guardians watching over you. But, out here away from them…well, you are helpless and then we can use you to further our goals and keep your friends from interfering."

"You'll never take us alive!" Miko growled as she tried to get around Jack.

"If that is the way you wish it. There is only a need to keep one of you alive. The other two can be disposed of quickly." Silas shot back at her.

I gulped at what he said. This wasn't good. Not good at all. "Miko, why don't you try and not help them out with any ideas?" Jack hissed at her.

"I'm with Jack." I muttered my agreement.

Silas took a step toward us and we took one back. We couldn't allow ourselves to be captured and killed. It would hurt the bots if we got killed and they would listen to MECH to save whoever was left alive. However, before Silas could take another step, both our side and his jumped back when a gun shot rang through the air and struck the ground in front of Silas.

"Take another step and the next one is splattering your brain on the wall behind you." The familiar voice of Mr. Lafayette sounded in the air. He was carrying a gun? Where did he even keep it? Where they allowed on field trips? Not that I was complaining about that right now. He was saving us after all. Plus, I shivered at the tone he was taking. It made me want to go and hide.

I watched as Silas looked around for the source of the shot but, seeming not to find one, he moved to take his gun out and aim it at us. But, before he could aim it at us, another shot rang through the air, and knocked the gun out of Silas' hands and an immediate third shot followed that and it hit the barrel of the gun, making it unable to be used and knocking it away from Silas. "Come out or they will pay for it." Silas growled before taking out a knife and charging at us.

The three of us crowded together and tensed as Silas came forward. But the clang of metal against metal had us all looking to see Mr. Lafayette blocking Silas with what looked like a…machete? Where did he get that?!

"Leave my students alone." Mr. Lafayette growled as he was in a stalemate with Silas.

In return, Silas seemed to study Mr. Lafayette before saying, "You know, there wasn't a lot in your files. What does a history teacher need to carry around a gun and a machete for? Something to hide?"

I shivered at the cold gaze that Mr. Lafayette gave Silas before he said, "I just like to be prepared. I've been in enough sticky situations to come prepared." He then shoved Silas off balance before tripping him and running back to us. Once he was near us, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at the power box before shouting, "Run!" He then shot the box and sparks flew into the air as the room went dark. There were three exits and, instead of leading us to the nearest one like I thought he would, Mr. Lafayette led us around where MECH was scrambling around and out the exit that they came through.

None of us said a word as we were led outside and we followed Mr. Lafayette down the street. But, after we were a good distance away from Silas, Miko ran next to Mr. Lafayette before saying, "Where did you learn to shoot like that Frenchy?" Seriously? That was her question?

"Not now." Mr. Lafayette said in a very serious voice. "We need to get somewhere safe." His eyes then seemed to scan the area around us before he motioned to a bar that was small and wedged between two bigger buildings. On the sign was a Jolly Roger that had a dragon sitting on top of the skull and its tail weaving through the eye sockets. Below the grinning skull was a sword and a gun acting as the crossbones. "In here quickly." Mr. Lafayette said before ushering us all inside and shutting the door.

* * *

 **Marquis: See, something always has to fragging happen! *Storms off***

 **Authoress: What, I am awesome!**

 **Marquis: *yells from the distance* Debatable!**

 **Authoress: *angrily* What? *runs after Marquis***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter. Sorry for the false notice that this was updated earlier. I put it up and a second later I realized I forgot this part. *begs for forgiveness* ...Anyways, I hope you all liked this! How many of you were suspecting MECH of all enemies to make an appearance? I hope I surprised a few of you at least. Looks like Marquis is trying to move past the Revolution but is finding it difficult. I certainly wouldn't want to be any Cybertronian who runs into him. Next chapter should actually be up sometime either tonight or early tomorrow morning if I can. If I can't, then i wish each one of you a very Happy Easter! Don't be afraid to leave me a review telling me what you think, or just to say hi. I'm a big girl and I try to play fair. *chuckles evilly***

 **Well, until then, TTYL! *runs after Marquis with the intent to kill***


	3. And a Bottle of Rum!

**AN: I only own my OCs. Vox is owned by a friend here.**

* * *

 **Marquis: I think I am going to have a spark attack.**

 **Authoress: *panicked* What? Why? You're my main character! I CAN'T LOSE YOU!**

 **Marquis: You are actually updating back to back days.**

 **Authoress: *growls* Why I ought to...**

* * *

Ch. 3: And a Bottle of Rum!

I felt confused as I quickly pulled the kids into the bar. Who were those guys? Miko, Jack, and Raf; they seemed to know them. But, how could that be? From what I had experienced in Jasper, there was no sort of excitement that went on that didn't take planning. Plus, those people hadn't seemed too pleasant. Reminded me of the Nazis back during World War II. Really creepy, dangerous, and not someone that I would expect those three to know. When this was all over, I would ask them what that was about. But, for now, my top concern was keeping the kids out of danger, and trouble, until we could meet up with the rest of the group. Sarah was going to kill me for separating.

"Um, Mr. Lafayette?" Raf asked.

Glancing down at him, I nodded before saying, "What is it Raf?"

In response, the two boys pointed in the direction of the stage and I frowned when I saw Miko walking between there and the bar. Great. She was the one who had gone off in the first place, well, that I was assuming anyways, and I didn't want her to cause any trouble here.

"Cool!" I heard Miko exclaim over the crowd as she looked around. This would have been the most convenient spot that I could find.

Motioning to the boys to stay point, I motioned to her and said, "I'll be right back. Once I get Miko, we'll duck out of here and meet up with the bus. Once we get back to Jasper, I am going to want an explanation about what happened today."

The two of them nodded and so I left them and made my way toward the pigtailed troublemaker. I swear that she gave the best of us a run for our money. I was thinking about maybe placing a shock collar on the girl...but then I remembered that it was now banned in the school systems.

Too bad.

As I grew closer to Miko, I saw her get bumped by a passerby and knock into a fellow at the bar, who just so happened to be about to take a drink from his mug. Almost in slow motion, the drink came out of the mug and splattered against the man's face. Rivulets of the liquid traveled through the path small but scraggly black beard as he stared ahead in shock. But, as that shock seemed to wear off, I knew that I had to get to Miko _now_.

"So, you think you can waltz in here and spill a man's hard-earned rum?" The man said to Miko as he seemed to tower over her. To my surprise, she didn't look the least bit phased but, as her teacher, it was my job to get her out safely.

So, I quickly stepped between the two before saying, "I don't think she meant to sir and, if it will help, I will give you money for twice the amount that the rum cost."

His anger seemed to shift toward me. "You think that will help? That was the last bit of that kind of rum in this place! It'll be another week before we get another shipment in!"

The angered man then threw down his glass and glared at me. Great. As he glared at me, and I motioned for Miko to go toward the boys, I took the moment to take in his appearance. The man was about six foot seven in height, so only an inch taller than myself, but he only had a fuzz of black hair on the top of his head. "Then, sir, I would suggest that you watch your surroundings before you try and take a drink of such a precious resource." I responded to him, eyes not blinking as I challenged him with my glance in hopes that he would back off. I had been told that I could be quite intimidating when I had to. That might have had something to do with my time I spent as a true pirate with a captain named Jack Sparrow on a ship called the Black Pearl. That was a fun time.

But, back to the present.

"I should have what?" The man yelled at me as he stepped forward. "Forget that!" He then shoved me back. Immediately, the crowd around us opened so there was a semi-circle surrounding the man and me. The bar was to his back before we started to circle each other.

I did not want to fight this man. My centuries upon centuries of experience would not give this man even the smallest chance of victory. It would be best if I could talk him down. "I don't want to fight you." I told him calmly, making sure to keep well out of his reach.

If I was hoping for him to agree, then I would have been very disappointed. "Too bad." He growled.

"Henry," A young man with brown hair and a stubble of a beard coming in started to say to his companion. I also noticed that he had an eye patch covering his left eye and he had a stub for a right hand, which probably held the hook that laid on the bar. It had to be irony that he was in a pirate bar of all places. Also, I noticed that his voice was very deep; a natural bass. "he's offered to pay you and we'll get another shipment. So, you don't,"

"Stay out of this Horatio." Henry growled before turning his attention back on me. Fun. "You aren't getting out of this little man."

"Well, they say you can tell the strength of a pirate from the hold he has on his drink of rum. Seeing as you got yours knocked out by a mere teenage girl, then this shouldn't be a very interesting fight."

Horatio didn't take my insult well at all.

With a roar, the man my own size charged at me and, instantly, my training from way back on Dragonia kicked back in and I found myself dodging his attacks flawlessly and countering those fails with strikes of my own, which landed most of the time. Though this man seemed to have much more experience than I had seen in most humans, I was able to get the upper hand quickly and, before he could register what I was doing, I slammed his face against the bar and held him there in a head-lock before leaning next to his ear.

"Next time I say that I don't want to fight, be a good lad and listen." I was then about to let go when I was compelled to say something else to him. But, that phrase would only be understood by a fellow Dragonian, and one of the higher ranked ones at that. This human wouldn't know anything about that. However, I had found that following my instinct usually led to promising results and so I leaned close to his ear and whispered a phrase that I had not uttered in thousands of years. I paused after I finished to see if the phrase had meant anything to him. The confusion in his eyes told me that it had not. So, now it was time for us to leave.

Shoving his head down to remind him not to mess with me, I let him go and walked back toward the crowd. Said crowd seemed to part rapidly as I walked by them but I ignored them as I reached the kids. "How..." Miko tried to ask, but I noticed that she was in shock.

Shaking my head, I led the three of them to the exit before saying, "Let's just get you three out of here first." I then walked out of the door.

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I sighed as I sat in my office above the bar. The business was running great but it was such a dull life. I could never get over my days serving on a multitude of pirate ships. Even spent a couple of years on the Black Pearl. But, that fight with Davey Jones had told me that, maybe, hanging out with that lot was not the best thing for my cover. So, I had continued to travel ships, even spending a month on the Queen Anne's Revenge, before the pirates started to lose the splendor that made them who they were, and fell to the ways of the land-lubber thief. That told me that it would no longer be within my honor to continue the life.

Didn't mean that I didn't miss it like the Pit.

Sailing with pirates, the excitement that came with that, almost allowed me to forget the defeat of the Dragonian revolution; of the lives lost because of betrayal and the millions of innocents who suffered because of it after we surrendered. Even to this day, we all mourned the loss of Chaom, as well as the loss of Marquis. Both had been close to all of us and, now, we were all spread out across the galaxies. Who knew if any of the others were still online?

The sound of yelling coming up the stairs told me that the others were coming up. Sure enough, my office door opened and the four bots disguised in their soliforms walked inside. The first two were the only two femmes in our group.

Galleon and Caravel, the sea terror sisters. Their soliforms were named Jane and Charlotte Bellamy respectfully and they were twins in that form too. Standing at five foot nine, both woman had lower back length curly red hair that was currently restrained by a pony tail, tanned skin, and sharp violet eyes. Today, they wore light blue colored t-shirts and black jeans. Also, they wore their boots that they used to wear back when I met them on the Golden Hand. I'm pretty sure that the boots hadn't been washed since then either.

Next, came Drakkar, whose soliform was named Horatio Booth. He had been on the Dauntless when it had been destroyed in Tripoli and I had offered that he come to the Black Pearl. Since Norrington was unaccounted for, Drakkar had taken my offer. Needless to say that the young man had a blast on the Pearl. The deep voiced man and I became deep friends and, when we both revealed that we were children of Primus, we traveled together from then on. He was the first of our crew that I had met. As he seemed to walk in smirking, and, since he usually either smiled or remained with a neutral expression, that was rare, I was curious as to what was going on.

Finally, in walked Cutlass, whose soliform was called Henry McCallister. Drakkar and I had met Cutlass while serving on the Royal Rover. He worked the oars, though he was not as large and muscular as the other rowers. So, I had asked him if he had some secret to his strength and he had jokingly thrown out that he was a robotic demon from another dimension; he had to think that we were humans. When Drakkar and I told him that we were children of Primus, he had been shocked and had ended up 'getting hit with a rock dropped by a seagull' aka fainting. When he woke up, he asked if we were really what we said we were. When we said that we were, he agreed to travel with us. I was surprised to see Cutlass was beaten, bloodied, and bruised. He hadn't gotten into a fight downstairs for a year. Wonder what caused him to start one now?

"Henry, what happened,"

"Don't even act like you weren't watching Scallion!" Cutlass yelled at me.

I was startled by his sudden interruption and paused for a second before I stood up and slammed my gloved hands down on my desk, keeping them there, while glaring at Cutlass and saying, "I would appreciate it if you addressed me by my name and not that ridiculous nickname McCallister."

Everyone was startled by my return, even Cutlass, and he stared at me with wide eyes before he looked put in his place and he said, "Sorry Barbossa. But it should have been impossible for you not to see it unless...oh."

Yeah, Cutlass must have figured out that I had actually just come back into my soliform state from my actual body, which I had been out with looking for energon deposits for us to mine so we wouldn't have to spend so much for the drinks we consumed here at the bar. We could afford it but I would rather save that money for a rainy day. "Yes, oh." I said, my good nature taking back over and a smile coming back on my face. "Now, what sort of commotion did I miss?"

Drakkar walked up to the security screens and tuned them in to about five minutes ago and said, "You won't believe it till you see it."

Now I knew that something big had happened. Drakkar had smirked _again_. Two times in one day was huge, but two times in a matter of minutes...that was just incredibly impossible. And, since it was happening, that mean that this was going to be _very_ entertaining.

As the scene on the screen started to unfold, I was shocked at who seemed to be destined to fight against Cutlass and, I figured that he was going to turn out leaving with a limp. With every fight that Cutlass had been in, I had never seen him lose a fight. So, it was just a matter of how damaged this skinny guy. Though, I had to admit, the guy's outfit was unusual. Reminded me about the uniforms that the Americans wore at Valley Forge. It was a great replica. Once we were done seeing Cutlass beat the crap out of...

"You got angry at a teenager for spilling your rum?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He looked at me in shock before saying, "Barbossa, that was my bottle of 1697 rum. You know that was my last bit of that bottle too. I took that from the cap's hands myself." He then smirked.

I remembered that day quite well. "Didn't he have ten bottles on him at the time? And I'm pretty sure you've only drank three. And our next import from our storehouse is coming in a week."

"Yeah, I know." Cutlass grumbled. "But it was that last, precious sip. You remember what we used to do to guys back in the day when they took out the last bit of our drink?"

Drakkar nodded at that and said, "We used to hang them upside-down by their toes on the mast for two hours...if we were feeling nice."

I nodded. He was right...and I had many fond memories of guys turning blue because they messed up my last drink of rum. But, that was forever ago. Now, it was different. Life was different. We had to move on. It was the only way that we would survive. Drakkar, Cutlass, Galleon, Caravel; they didn't know. They hadn't fought besides beings that they cared for, that they put everything in, and lost it because of betrayal from both the outside and the inside. I still remembered the haunted look on Pandimala's faceplate as they were taken in, the Dragonian Revolution lost because of a betrayal. I had moved on from that. Since I could do that, I could move on from anything. Even the good old days back when I was a pirate. That was simple to give up compared to being forced to leave Dragonia.

Shaking my head, I paid attention to the security feed. The weirdly dressed man then stepped between the girl and Cutlass and seemed to distract him. While they seemed to talk, I turned to the others before saying, "So, what did this guy say to get you to go at him?"

The crowd parted into a semi-circle as Caravel answered me. "The guy said, 'Well, they say you can tell the strength of a pirate from the hold he has on his drink of rum. Seeing as you got yours knocked out by a mere teenage girl, then this shouldn't be a very interesting fight.'. The look on Henry's face was hilarious." She then started to cackle with laughter.

Galleon nodded before saying, "Yeah, plus he had a French accent so it was like he was being insulted by the old French navy captains like back in the old days."

That surprised me. That phrase about knowing the strength of a pirate by his hold on his drink wasn't really known by humans these days. The last time I had heard that was around 1800. I wanted to ask a question but I was drawn from asking questions as the fight began. As usual, Cutlass lunged in first. But, that is where things got interesting. I half stood from my seat in shock. The skinny teacher was using moves that I hadn't see since the Revolution. This skinny, but now noticeably fit, man was kicking a soliform's aft. When the teacher slammed Cutlass against the bar, I noticed that he said something. "What did he say?"

"He told Henry that next time he said he didn't want to fight, then we had better listen." Drakkar said as the tape continued.

When the teacher leaned in closer, I noticed that he seemed to hesitate before saying something else. "And there?"

Henry glanced at the scene and shook his head before saying, "Gibberish. It was some whacked up made up language. I swear this guy had to be recently released from the whacky bin."

"What. Did. He. _Say_?" I demanded. Not many people could bring that kind of beat down and be insane. I had a feeling that,

"Ipo raign ak selanitra rai ul ak gretranar har aki zarnex. Har, rai maom wakier varne tor ux rixen craselen." Cutlass repeated.

Shock flooded me as the others looked confused. While I wanted to form some form of thought, I couldn't focus. I had never expected to hear that ever again. The last time I had even heard it was before the final battle, back when we were discussing contingency plans for what would happen if one of us got captured. That phrase was only known to a select few bots.

Caravel's chuckle caught my listening attention, though I was still in too much shock to move, and I heard her say, "Well, that looney kicked your can."

Cutlass grumbled at that before saying, "What I wouldn't give to know what that guy though he was saying to,"

"All hail the empress, who is the beginning and the end. And, who will put down all of our enemies." I suddenly said to them.

The four of them glanced at me in shock before Drakkar said, "Barbossa, what does that have to do with this talk?"

Glancing up and looking at them all, I knew that I had to explain to them this part of my past. "I told you all about the Dragonian Revolution each time I met you. As time went on, I have told you almost everything about the Revolution, and what we lost. But, there are some things that I haven't told you, out of oaths that I gave. This one I can now tell you. The advisers to Chaom, the close generals, developed a language for our army so the Cybertronians could not decipher our plans. We never even told the Vosnians, our allies, the secret to it because of our distrust towards them. Within that language, we close generals set up key phrases that only we would know, should the time come for us to need them. With the fall of Dragonia, that need became necessary. Until I crashed on this planet, I listened everywhere for any of those phrases. But, after millions of years of listening, and with the Autobot/Decepticon war breaking out, I decided to find some isolated planet and retreat from it all, from the fighting and searching." I then pointed toward the now paused video feed and of the man. "That is no human. That is a soliform. A Dragonian general's soliform."

The others showed a look of shock, though Cutlass' also had one of relief, before Cutlas held up a finger and said, "First of all, I am really _really_ glad that guy was a soliform."

"Yeah, because then you would have had your aft handed to you by an actual skinny human." Galleon teased with a smirk.

The others, and myself, chuckled at that and Cutlass let out an exaggerated laugh. "Oh ha ha really funny. Anyways, like I was saying, that is only the first thing. Second, how many of you were close generals and knew that?"

His question caught me off guard. It had been so long since I had been asked that question that, only for a moment, I froze. During the Revolution, we had kept our enemy guessing by never revealing what our actual numbers were, especially how many of us were in the higher command. But, with everything that had happened, it was now safe to say. "Whenever we counted, us generals, we would always count Chaom. In total, we counted nine, three femmes and six mechs. As I've told you, the last I heard we were down two generals. Since that was a guy, I am pretty sure that takes out Pandimala, Jabberwocky, and Chorale, the three femmes. Plus, since Chaom and Marquis are offline they are out of the question. So, that just leaves Aranzer, Comet Gale, and Vox. But, with how we can change our vocals in our soliforms, I have no idea who this is."

There was silence as we all seemed to think about it. There was nothing as important as finding whoever this was. I was still reeling from shock that another Dragonian, and one of my close friends, was on this backwater of a planet. It was a very nice planet, and one that I had called home since 900 AD. It was a nice place but I sometimes had nostalgia about Dragonia. That was another reason I was so glad that whoever this was had not been found. But, they had whispered the code to Cutlass so they didn't know that I was here.

Drakkar stepping up then snapped me out of my thoughts. "Then, what are we waiting for?" He started, standing up. "Caravel, start running facial recognition. Depending on how long this bot has been here, he might be on record."

"Those kids he was with didn't look anything like him." Galleon started as Caravel started to type away at the laptop. "Limit the search to teachers."

Cutlass nodded and said, "And they didn't look like they had jet lag so limit it to Nevada for now."

As they looked, I couldn't stop the feeling of admiration flow through me. How had I become so lucky in finding them? I remembered sitting with Pandimala one day and we had talked about a similar subject.

Flashback

 _I stood at attention as Pandimala sifted through Chaom's notes for the next battle. It was going to be a skirmish but Pandimala knew that the plan was fool-proof...meaning that even Chorale couldn't mess it up._

" _No mocking Chorale when you are by me Scallion."_

 _My chassis shot straight into the air when Pandimala said that, never looking up from the notes. "Wha...how?" I asked her in shock. This was probably my fourth time actually being with her in the bot._

 _She smirked at me and said, "Well, besides the rumors I have heard about optics in the back of my helm, and the rumor that I can somehow read processors, you have the same look on your faceplate whenever you are thinking about her in a mocking way."_

 _She then made a humming noise as she looked at one of the plans. "Pandimala, Chorale just came on seven solar cycles ago from Velocitron. How do you know her so well already?" I asked._

 _Laughter came from her and I felt confusion paint my faceplate as she calmed down. "Scallion, how long have you been here?"_

" _Fourteen solar cycles." I answered her immediately. I hadn't been here that long and it surprised me that I was even this close._

 _She smiled at me before saying, "Scallion. I knew you after your first solar cycle here. That is the difference between us and Cybertronians. We are not an army, we are a family. We all get to know each other. We fight for each other, and we believe in each other. We know what each component of our family needs and we all work together to help each other out"_

 _Shaking my helm, I said, "Pandimala, how do you do it?"_

 _She looked at me with a confused look before saying, "What do you mean Scallion?"_

 _I let out a laugh at that before saying, "How do you bring so many different bots together and have them be so loyal to you? I mean, I never pictured the solar cycle where I, a Dragonian since coming online, would be working with side by side with an Iaconian and a Velocitronian."_

 _Laughter came from her before she said, "Scallion, it's not a secret. I just keep myself open to all possibilities and I am always willing to accept a new friend, no matter what their history is." She then paused and gave me one of her most serious looks that I had ever seen before she said, "If you can't accept help when you need it, and if you can't be open to new friendships, then what are you doing being online?" She then smiled and relaxed, to my thanks, before saying, "Just have a little faith in everyone. You might be surprised with what you find."_

 _An understanding smile spread across my faceplate._

 _End of Flashback_

"Found him!" Caravel exclaimed, snapping me out of the distant past.

Moving next to her, I read the information to myself as Galleon said it out loud. "His name is George Alexander Lafayette. Says here that, up until recently, he was a history teacher in Montana until he and one of his colleagues got a job offer in some town called Jasper here in Nevada. She is the new music teacher there and he is, of course, the history teacher. Says here that he specializes in American history, though well versed in history dating back since ancient Sumer."

Drakkar nodded at that before saying, "Well, then what we have to do is obvious; let's get our afts down to this Jasper and find this teacher." He then smirked. "I know that this Mr. Lafayette is one of us, but it is still funny that Cutlass got beat by a teacher."

We all burst out into laughter at that, well, everyone except Cutlass who was pulling off a very slagged off mood expression, before I nodded and said, "Alright Buccaneers, pack up your rum and get ready. We're relocating to Jasper."

* * *

 **Authoress: Well, that wasn't too bad.**

 **Scallion: Yes, but I wonder which General that was? I am very curious.**

 **Authoress: Well, you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Cutlass: Screw waiting. I'm going to search the other rooms. *walks out***

 **Authoress: *evil aura surrounds* Scallion you get back here or I swear you will not be allowed to live!**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did. To tell you all the truth, I've had this beauty typed up since before The Dragonian Revolution ended. But, I had to wait until now to post it. Back to the story, it seems like things are starting to happen around Marquis and it will only be a matter of time before he meets his first bot...but will it be a Dragonian or a Crassen? We will find out eventually. Please drop a review even if you want to say hi! Oh, and before I forget...**

 **HAPPY EASTER!**

 **Pirates for Easter, there's something you don't see everyday. Well, until next time, TTYL! *sings about Davy Jones***


	4. Insanity in Jasper

**AN: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Marquis: Holy Primus we are still online.**

 **Authoress: Yes I know. It's been ages. But, at least you aren't dead right?**

 **Marquis: *scoffs* Speak for the story. Everyone in the story thinks that I'm offline! Primus knows what sort of juicy information these readers are going to get on me so I can prove myself to the readers.**

 **Authoress: *smirks* Well, now that you mention it, there might be something funny revealed in this story. *walks off***

 **Marquis: *frowns* Well slag this isn't good.**

* * *

Ch. 4: Insanity in Jasper

 **Optimus' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I glanced at the children as they stood with Agent Fowler. Up until now, MECH hadn't attacked the children outside of Jasper. That was why we thought that it was safe for them to go on their trip to Carson City, the capital of this state. It would be a great experience and both teachers on this trip had excellent backgrounds, for we had Fowler check them out.

We had all been nervous to hear that the two newest teachers were going to be hosting this trip. They had just come in this year from Montana and that made me nervous. However, their backgrounds had been easy enough for Fowler to investigate and he had found nothing strange in them.

But, it turned out that we should have been worried. MECH had followed the children to Carson City and had attacked them. If it wasn't for that teacher helping the children, then I had no doubt in my processor that they would now be prisoners of MECH. We owed that teacher many thanks. Maybe one solar cycle we could repay him.

"So Miko, explain to me again what happened?" Fowler asked her slowly. He had missed a few things in his report and so he had to ask the children what happened again.

Miko sighed in annoyance before saying, "Dang Fowler, are you losing your memory? I went over this a million times yesterday when we got back." And she had. I'm sure most of us had memorized the story by now.

In return to her question, Fowler crossed his arms. "I have to make sure that you haven't remembered anything and the best way to do that is to have you recount exactly what happened yesterday at the museum and how you escaped."

"Fine." Miko gave up slightly. "The three of us had gone off to try and find Frenchy since he hadn't been with the tour at all and this was a history museum. I mean, what kind of history teacher isn't a part of a tour at a history museum?"

"You mean Mr. Lafayette correct?" Fowler asked, trying to keep this debriefing as professional as he could with Miko.

She tilted her head in confusion. "That's why I said. Frenchy. Anyways, so we went to the restricted access area just in case he got special privileges for being a history teacher and knowing the museum owner. Well, the lights started to flicker in a construction area and that was when that creep Silas showed up and said that he was going to take us. Of course, I said that he wouldn't get us alive and so he said that he only needed one of us."

"And that's when your teacher arrived?" Fowler pushed.

Now it was Miko's turn to cross her arms. "Hey, I'm the one telling the story!" She then paused. "But yeah, that's when he sort of showed up. But, he was hiding in the shadows and so we didn't know where he was. We just recognized his voice. Anyways, he shot in front of Silas and threatened not to miss next time if Silas didn't leave us alone. Silas tried to take out his gun and threaten us but Frenchy has to be some sort of super ninja assassin because he didn't just shoot the gun out of Silas' hands but he shot a hole in the barrel right after that! Then, Silas took out a knife and charged at us and that was when Frenchy came out of the shadows with a machete! I mean, how did he hide that thing?"

"A machete?! Why didn't the museum take it away from him? And the gun for that matter!?" Fowler yelled. This was something new that Miko had not told us about and now we were all listening carefully.

Rafael answered that for us. "They didn't have security checks for our group. Some sort of special VIP access that Mr. Lafayette set up with the museum director."

That made sense. If he had special accommodations with the director, then there wouldn't have been a need for that sort of scan. While I was interested in why a human would carry around such a primitive weapon, in their culture, I did not ask questions as Miko continued her story.

"Anyways, so Silas and Frenchy fought each other for a bit but Silas was really outmatched. Then, Mr. Lafayette pulled out some gun that you only see in pirate movies."

"It was a flintlock pistol." Jack added. We all then looked at him. "I…watch Pirates of the Caribbean when it's on TV."

"Whatever." Miko said to that point before continuing. "So, he told us to run as he shot the power box on the wall. The whole room went dark but, instead of taking us to the exit behind us, Frenchy led us behind MECH and took us out that exit." That was very clever thinking. That would make it less likely for MECH to follow them since they wouldn't check the exit behind them first. "So, Frenchy led us outside and I tried to ask him how he learned to shoot like that. I mean, if he fired all of those shots from that gun then he had to be pretty good."

Fowler had a worried look on his face as he spoke. "He would have to be more than pretty good. There was no history of weapon training in his file. Did he learn that naturally?"

I was curious about that answer as well but Miko continued her story. "Anyways, we ducked inside of a pirate bar to wait it out and I wanted to look around so I made my way toward the bar. Of course, I accidently bumped into some guy and he spilled his beer and got mad. Thankfully, Frenchy distracted the guy and then when the other guy tried to pick a fight Frenchy kicked his aft!"

"Miko where have you been hearing those words?!" Ratchet yelled at our ward.

Miko of course shrugged before she continued. "Anyway, once Frenchy beat him, he said something to him before he got us out. We made it to the bus after that and once we got back to school you know the rest."

The base went quiet as we processed her words. It seems like we were very lucky to have that teacher with the children or they would have been in serious danger. Glancing at Agent Fowler though, I had a feeling that he was not as relieved about the teacher. "Is something the matter Agent Fowler?"

In return, the agent nodded. "Teachers aren't supposed to carry any sort of weapons just in case they turn out to be bad apples. But, no one else seems to be questioning his having them on this trip. Even the school left out the weapons in their report and I know they had to have gotten the information. Plus, there aren't any records of his buying that sort of antique, and useable antique as well. With that sort of weapon there should have been paperwork. I'm wondering what his angle is in this. I'll have to have my superiors look into it."

I didn't see the need to worry about this teacher. While it seemed like he was a little unorthodox with carrying around those weapons, they had been used to save the children and so I didn't see if that was evidence enough for suspicion.

"Miko," Bulkhead started, "did you hear anything that your teacher said to that guy?"

Miko frowned and seemed to think. "Sort of. It didn't sound like English or any other language I know. Something about a Selanitra and Craselen. But, besides that, it was too low for me to hear."

Immediately I felt the same suspicion that Fowler did about the teacher, but for different reasons. When I was an extremely young mech, there had been a large revolution against the council made by a colony planet called Dragonia. Those words sounded like a part of their made-up language they used. I hadn't fought in the war against the colony but I had spoken to Ultra Magnus many times since he had fought in it as well as Ratchet, who had been on the colony planet and fought the rebels. Tonight, I would have to do some more research into this Mr. Lafayette and see if there was a connection between him and the Dragonian Revolution. I doubted it since the Dragonian Revolution ended long before the human species came into existence on this world.

But, as I watched Miko and Bulkhead go off dune bashing, I couldn't shake the feeling that something might not be right with this teacher of theirs after all.

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I sighed with a sense of relief as my team and I arrived, in soliform, riding in my soliform to our new home; Jasper, Nevada. We had never moved this suddenly before but this was a special case. There was a Dragonian general in this extremely small middle of nowhere town. My poor gold alt mode with forest green markings was going to stand out like a sore thumb. Even though I wasn't a pirate anymore, if any of these teenagers tried to mess with my alt mode I'd scalp them.

"If I see that scrawny teacher I'll give him a good aft kicking." Cutlass growled from the back seat. Since both he had Drakkar had flying alt modes, they had to ride with either myself or the twins. They both chose me. I was definitely the safer option. However, with Drakkar coming with me as well, Cutlass wasn't going to be getting the front seat. Of course, Cutlass wasn't too happy about that. "I was just holding back because I thought he was human. If we went bot to bot then,"

"He would probably still kick your aft." Drakkar commented with a laugh. That poor mech wouldn't be getting away from this teasing for a while. Once I figured out just who we were dealing with then I was going to see if I could their recording of the fight.

Cutlass seemed to be in disbelief. "What are you talking about? I could probably beat him no problem right boss?"

Well, Pandimala always did teach us to tell the absolute truth even when the other bot wouldn't like it. I had learned that when I had foolishly asked her if I could take on Vox and beat him in a one on one evenly.

…She had promptly laughed, said no, and proceeded to tell the other generals. Of course, she explained later that all of us were even and she doubted that any of us could take on each other and beat them. That even included air helmed Chorale. Admittedly it took me a few solar cycles to get over that blow to my ego. Seeing Chorale put some touchy-feely captains that were twice my size in their places made me feel a lot better about it.

"Not a chance Cutlass." I honestly and bluntly responded. His face fell so fast that I thought that I broke him. But, I figured I would get it over with like ripping off a band-aid…those things hurt. "You remember how your little attempted coup tried to go a few years after we met?"

I noticed him flinch at that. "In my defense, we were trying to figure out just what kind of bot you really were. The council had spread a galaxies wide decree making that area of space off limits to any and that they would be attacked without prejudice if any tried. So, finding out that you were supposedly from there caused us to doubt you."

"So, in other words it was bad." Galleon took over his answer over the comm, which we all heard through the radio of my alt mode. Of course, she was there to witness it along with the others. It was just him trying to take charge but I knew that would cause problems and the others trusted me. So, I had shown him that I was telling the truth by having a one on one fight. It didn't go so well for him.

Cutlass scoffed. "It wasn't that bad."

"No?" Drakkar asked from next to me. "I could have sworn I remember you surrendering to him after he thrashed you without taking a hit. That fight lasted a minute I believe?"

"Fine. Whatever. So, this General is just as strong as you were then?" Cutlass asked me.

Letting out a laugh, I nodded while I turned down the street that housed our new bar. The house we would be 'living' in right next door. "Of course. Since we were all under Chaom's lead, we knew that we would be targets so both Chief General Chaom and General Pandimala devised rigorous and almost torturous training exercises that pushed us well past out limits. I still do some of the workouts when I can."

With that thought, I realized that I hadn't done nearly the kind of training that I had on Dragonia with the others. Depending on when this general we were looking for had gotten here, then he might be even more capable than I am. I had allowed myself to become lax in my exercises since coming to this world. Once we found this general I was going to work with him and get back to training.

Drakkar then smirked and I had a feeling that I was not going to like whatever it was that he was about to say. "So, that means that, since I don't recollect any rigorous training sessions that you undertook since meeting us, then you might even be worse off than the general that we are looking for?"

I frowned at that as everyone laughed. Thankfully, we had just pulled up to the location of our new bar and home. Well, human home. Drakkar and the others would find a place where we could store our alt modes. I really didn't want some punk messing with my chassis. "Well, if you are all done poking fun at me, let's get this place set up and get to work. If we are going to find this teacher than we are going to have to be careful. If he becomes suspicious of us before we can get him alone, then he will go into hiding and we'll have to track him down again. Since I know that there is a Dragonian general here, then it is my duty and obligation to make sure that he knows that I am here as well and make sure that he knows that I have his back."

I then sighed and exited my alt mode. This was going to be a trying time, that I knew. Forces were gathering and I wasn't sure what the end game would be. Without the other generals with me, I felt so much pressure. I had troops to take care of and introduce into the Dragonian fold. Plus, if a Dragonian general had ended up on this planet besides myself, then I had a feeling that other Dragonians were here and I had to find them as quickly as possible. We worked best as a family unit and we had to stay together.

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I flinched as a car horn honked from next to me. Why wasn't I in school? Well, the school had felt that, given the severity of what happened, that everyone, even those not involved in the trip, would get a few days off to cope with what happened. Though only myself and the three kids were really in the middle of it, Sarah had to file the children into the school bus in a hurry once the director of the museum told her that shots had been fired in the museum. After we had left the pirate bar, she had texted me demanding where I was. I immediately told her that I had been with Jack, Miko, and Raf and they were safe. After telling her our location, she had the bus pick us up before we made a beeline back to Jasper

Thinking about the incident reminded me that I hadn't been able to get the information that I had wanted out of the kids. That information mainly consisted of wanting to know what they had to do with that man and his organization. Using fingerprints that I collected from my soliform, I found that his name was Leyland 'Silas' Bishop and he was the leader of a rogue organization that called itself MECH. It was a strange name to me but I had a feeling that they hadn't derived it from the gender denomination word that children of Primus used to identify their gender.

However, that didn't help ease my worry about how they knew the kids, and seemed to know them quite well if what I overheard was accurate. From how Miko had been backtalking Silas, they had to have had another interaction. But, I hadn't been able to find out when that interaction had been. Something wasn't adding up and I had been pouring all my time into researching as much as I could. However, I had hit a roadblock and so I was trying another theory that, honestly, had me worried.

From the information that I could find, MECH was very much into becoming the most weaponized and technologically advanced group in the world and their eventual aim was complete world domination. If, let's say, the children were involved with Crassen, then that would explain why MECH was after them. Crassen would have the most advanced technology and weaponry on the planet and if the children were involved with them, then they were targets for groups like MECH to get what they wanted. But, I couldn't be sure that the children were involved with Crassen. Well, at least not until I looked in this final place.

Walking up the cement steps, I looked around and, when I was sure that no one was around, I knocked on the glass pained door. Not long after, my inside contact arrived and unlocked the door from the inside. "Thank you for doing this for me Mr. Schindler."

The old janitor laughed and said, "No problem Mr. Lafayette. I owed you for getting those football punks off my back when you got here. So, letting you look around for your research project is no problem." Yeah, it wasn't completely the truth but it wasn't a lie either.

Also, "Come on, what have I said about calling me that? You're my elder and you have the right to just call me George."

He nodded as he led me down the hall to the confiscation room. It was a place where the teachers put anything that students had brought that was against school rules. I hadn't had to use it yet and I didn't have a key to this room. "Aye, you're right on that one. But, as your elder I also have the right to allow you to call me by my first name as well. I have already given you permission but you insist on calling me Mr. Schindler."

I sighed in defeat. This was one battle that I knew that I was not going to win no matter what. "Very well then. Moss, thank you for doing this for me."

He nodded and, as we stopped in front of the door, he took out his key. "Again, you are welcome George. Now, let's see what this room has to offer for your project." The door then unlocked with an audible click and, once he turned on the light, he stepped to the side as I walked in. "I'll just wait out here while you look so I won't get in your way."

"I won't be long Moss." I responded to him before continuing inside further.

There was a thick layer of dust on the shelves closest to me and I about gave the search up. This much dust wouldn't have accumulated on anything that would be relevant to my search. But, as I was about to turn and leave, I noticed three large and unusual shapes covered with tarps against the back wall. The tarps didn't have nearly the amount of dust as the other items in the room did and I felt my heart leap into my throat. This was it. The proof that I would need must be under one of those tarps.

I approached the smallest item and picked the tarp off it. My soliform's heart stopped as I stared at the engine in front of me. This was way to technologically advanced for humans. If humans alone had this sort of technology, then I would have had the capability to leave Earth and search for my comrades. But, they didn't yet. But, this alone wasn't proof that Crassen where on this planet. This just proved that there was a child of Primus here. Who knows? They might even be Dragonian and, if that was the case, then I was going to start my search immediately.

My curiosity peeked, I moved to the next largest object and took the tarp off. Not surprising, it was technology that humans were centuries away from being able to produce. However, what was surprising was that it was a laser cannon in the shape of…a volcano. I could tell that whoever was helping whoever did this project at least tried to make it somewhat human based. But, the child of Primus who helped with this project obviously took over the project too much. I could only imagine what sort of damage occurred after the kid tried to display what it could do.

However, as I moved to take off the third tarp, I hesitated. My hand was gripping the textured surface like it was my only lifeline. But, to be honest, I was scared. Due to the unusual shape of the item underneath, I had a feeling that this would be the proof that I needed that would tell me for certain what sort of child of Primus was here and interacting with the humans. Taking a slow breath, I steeled myself to prepare for anything and I pulled the tarp off.

My spark stopped for a second as I beheld what was before me. That second went by quickly though and it was immediately replaced with barely bound fury. Before me was a mocking symbol of the fragging Crassen that had betrayed us. I could feel the anger coursing through my lines in my actual body and I was sure that my engine was revving in my garage. But, I didn't care about my disguise right now. Instead, I was focused on what the blight in front of me proved. This proved that Crassen were, not only on this planet, but near Jasper and interacting with the humans.

For in front of me was a model of their despicable home-world; Cybertron and its two moons.

I must have been quiet for too long for I jumped when I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder. "Are you alright George? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Nodding my head, I put my anger aside, for now, before motioning to the three objects. "What's the story behind those, Moss?"

Moss looked around me and I saw his eyes show confusion for a moment before understanding. "That's right, you and Miss Anderson came after that incident. During the Fall Science Fair projects, three of our students brought those in and claimed that they made them. The motor over there went out of control and chopped one desk before it was turned off and the 'volcano' there blew a hole in the roof of the school. Plus, the made-up planet system was just a shocker…though admittedly it is very detailed for a make-believe system. All three students failed and we kept those here so they wouldn't do anymore damage."

"And what students where those?" I questioned, my eyes never leaving the model of Cybertron.

"Well," Moss stared and he pointed to each project as he identified the students. "Jackson Darby brought in the motor, Rafael Esquivel brought in that 'volcano', and Miko Nakadai brought in the planet system." He then walked in front of me, snapping me out of my stupor. "Have you gotten what you need for your project?"

That's right. I had told him that to get in here without raising too much suspicion myself. Nodding, I turned to leave. "Yes, thank you again for this Moss. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you to make up for this."

Moss caught up to me after turning off the light and locking the door before he said, "now see here George, I don't owe you anything. This was me repaying a favor to you. That's the end of the story."

Unfortunately, I knew I wasn't winning this battle no matter how much Moss didn't know just how much I owed him for this. So, I sighed. "You don't make this easy Moss, do you?"

The old man laughed as he escorted me out of the school. He still had work to do so he wanted to make sure that I got out of there. He let out his own sigh before saying, "You really want to do something for me? I'm planning a surprise dinner for my wife a week from today and I heard that you have some decent wines for around here. Could you perhaps get me a bottle?"

That was easy and it would make me feel better. Thinking back to my wine collection, which was probably larger than it should be, I remembered that I had a bottle of 1865 wine that I hadn't been thinking of using that he should like. "I think I have a bottle of 1865 wine I can let you have. And don't worry, I really didn't like the bottle of 1864 that I had from the same company so it's just wasting away."

He nodded with a grateful smile. "Oh, the wife will love that definitely." He then nodded. "Have a good day George."

"You too Moss." I returned with a nod as he shut the door and locked it from the inside before walking away. I then turned and started to walk back toward my house.

Well, with the confirmation of Crassen on Earth, I knew that I was going to have to keep my guard up. But, I would not be running. The time for running was long gone and I was going to make them pay for what they did to my Selanitra. We had been fighting for our rights and we had been squashed by those dictators on Cybertron who only cared about their reputations.

 _Well there's a principle of nature, that almost every creature knows_

 _Called survival of the fittest_

 _And check it this is how it goes_

 _The animal that eats has got to scratch and fight_

 _And claw and bite and punch_

 _And the animal that doesn't well the animal that doesn't_

 _Winds up someone else's l-l-lunch_

I turned my head when I heard that strange song play in the air and I found myself staring at the strangest of men, though I really didn't have room to talk given how I dressed. He had on a pair of black pinstripe pants and a green pin-stripe suit with a white dress shirt on underneath and a black and green stripped tie tied around his neck. From his right coat pocket, I could see the gold chain of a pocket watch that attached to a loop on his pant waist. On top of his head was a black top hat with a green velvet ribbon fitted around the middle.

His medium length black hair moved as he played his double axe guitar and I could see that this man truly didn't care what anyone around him thought about him. He just played because he wanted to. Also, what was strange about the blue-eyed man was that he wore what must be green velvet gloves. That had to be uncomfortable in this desert like place. Plus, how did he keep that flower tucked in his right shoulder pocket…

As the man came closer to me, his words not reaching me even though he was still zoned out singing, I realized that this man, as crazy as this might be, seemed very familiar to me. A memory from my distant past and, with everything that was going on, I had to find out the truth. Glancing to my side, I saw that I was right outside of my house. This was perfect. I waited until the man came up to me before I 'accidentally' bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I apologized to him to draw him into a conversation.

The man in front of me let out a laugh before saying, "No big deal. Though something like that happening in such a small town can't be fate. The name's Oliver Lercone."

I held out my hand to him. "And I'm George Lafayette. Can I offer you something to drink at least to apologize?"

He took it and shook it before he smiled and said, "Sure, why not? Got any jasmine tea?"

So, this guy was a tea drinker. That was uncommon around here but, of course, I kept a wide variety of teas around since I picked up the habit of drinking it when I was with the British. Thankfully, I could answer truthfully. "Yes, you can just head on in. There's something I need to grab out here."

 **Once-Ler's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

This was a very nice way to end the day. For a few hours, I had been wondering around the town trying to see if there were any places available for me to buy. A couple of weeks ago, I had been traveling with General Aranzer and his group Circus. We had landed on this planet in 1910 and Aranzer had started up his circus, called Circus Cirkus, and he made sure to keep himself lowkey enough to not be in the limelight of the media but he made sure to keep himself known enough so we could keep our audios to the ground.

But, a couple weeks ago, I decided to leave Circus Cirkus to branch out on my own to see if I could find someone, anyone. We all knew that there was a high possibility that other Dragonians would eventually come to this world because, despite how far away this planet was, this planet, called Earth, gave off an energy signal that was almost identical to the one that Dragonia used to let off. It was strange that we had been gone from our world from so long. But, this new world that we called home was beautiful in its own way. Its people were diverse and you could always find a helping servo…hand. While Earth was no Dragonia, it was our new home.

And speaking of people willing to lend out a hand, here was a nice man from a small town who was allowing me to stay here for a few minutes to drink some tea. I really did love tea, and for that I blamed Aranzer. He picked up the habit of drinking tea when he had gone over to Europe after World War II. Actually, he got almost everyone who was travelling with Cirkus addicted to the simple drink. It was around 1939 that we figured out how to consume human food and transfer it to energon.

"Thanks. I'll head on in." I responded to George's offer and walked toward the man's door. He was a very nice person. I mean, not many people would let a stranger that they had just met into their home. Honestly, it reminded me of my first night as a Dragonian.

Flashback

 _I felt disoriented as I looked around the camp that was to be my new home for now. Everyone seemed to happy and I couldn't figure out just why that was. They were at war against one of the most powerful armies in many galaxies and, yet, here they were sipping mid-grade and laughing with their friends like they didn't have a care in the world. When I was vetted by Generals Pandimala and Marquis, they told me that I was in for a surprise when I got to camp. I had laughed and said that I had a very high doubt that there would be anything that surprised me about their camp._

 _Now I felt like a scraplet surrounded by organic material._

 _There was so much positive energy and excitement buzzing around my audios that I thought my circuits were going to fry…and that was saying a lot since that was what I tried to do to my opponents. Maybe I would start laying off on that tactic a little after this. If my opponents suffered even half this much then it was close to battlefield brutality. I mean…we were at war…weren't we? This didn't seem like any sort of war that I had heard about on Cybertron. To them, the Dragonians were rusting away in trenches of toxic organic material as the council demolished them. I had never believed them but I had assumed that something had to be true in all their babble. But, from what I had seen so far, nothing was farther from the truth. Maybe this was just a show to rattle me up._

" _Don't flatter yourself."_

 _I jumped and turned to see General Marquis standing there with a smile on his face. "Wh…what do you mean?" I asked him, still wondering how in the Pit he could sneak behind me._

 _He let out a laugh and motioned to the camp before saying, "If we were trying to impress you, then we would have had a training festival with a few of the generals. General Scallion still wants to get back at General Vox for the last fight they had."_

" _Was it a tie?" I asked, confused about where this was going._

 _General Marquis shook his helm before saying, "No. I don't think any of us Generals could beat the other. No, it was tied but Vox took out both of Scallion's headlights and the mech had to use cheap plastic until we could smuggle him actual replacements. Unfortunately, the only plastic available came from oil bottles that we get smuggled in and the words were in view for everyone to see."_

 _A mental picture suddenly flashed in my head using the picture that General Pandimala had shown me of General Scallion when she showed me the higher command, so I would know who they were, and I couldn't stop the laughter from coming out. "I…I could see why he would want revenge." I finally got out through gasps of laughter._

 _Marquis was laughing along with me for a moment before he calmed down, though the smile was still on his face, and said, "So you see, this isn't set up. This is what being a Dragonian is. I will admit that even I was surprised by just how close we all were. This isn't an army…well, not only an army. More importantly, when you become a Dragonian, you become family. Many of the Dragonians here were only siblings or had small families before we declared our independence. However, with Chief General Chaom, and the determination of the resistance, we are one of the biggest families in the galaxies. Never feel like you can't come to any of us for help."_

 _I nodded and stared forward at the mass of Dragonians in front of me. It felt nice being a part of this group…this family, and I was sure that I would never forget the lesson taught to me today. "Thank you, General Marquis."_

 _Marquis nodded and stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Off this subject Once-Ler, I spoke with General Pandimala and Chief General Chaom last night. If you would accept, I would ask that you do me the honor of being my own aide-de-kamp? I feel like I can trust you and teach you so much, as I am sure you trust me and teach me. That thneed of yours is a one in a million weapon and the mech using it is just as impressive."_

 _I stared at General Marquis, my jaw dangling by its bolts, before I snapped it shut and nodded with a smile. "It would be an honor to be your aide-de-kamp sir. When do I start General?"_

" _You start now with just addressing me as Marquis. You are my aide after all and that gives you some leeway with saying that General scrap. Second, let's go look over the plans for our attack at Pine Rush Gorge."_ _He responded to me before leading me away toward his tent._

End of Flashback.

After that solar cycle, I had grown even closer to Marquis, though I kept calling him General Marquis to get under his plating a little, and I had learned to trust my fellow Dragonians due to his teaching. He was my inspiration and hope for the Dragonian future and I knew that we would win if he was involved in the effort. I actually took quite a few rounds to the chassis to make sure that he lived on.

But, they seemed for not when the report came out saying that he was declared offline. Most times, I would ignore such a report because most bots wouldn't be read into secret missions. But, this report had come from General Pandimala herself. I knew that General Pandimala would not lie about such an event to all of us for the sake of a mission. No, with her reporting his offlining, the chances of Marquis being offline were truly high.

However, I still held onto hope. Though it has been millions of stellar cycles since his declared offlining and he has not shown a sign of resurfacing, something told me that he was still alive. My top theory had been that he was stranded on a primitive world and his deep space communication equipment was destroyed. But, I didn't have enough proof to launch an expedition to find him and energon was scarce these days, thanks to the Crassen Civil War, and it would be reckless of me to leave my fellow Dragonians to search right now. But, once there was proof that he was alive, I would go out to find him, the resources be slagged.

Looking at the man's house, I noticed that he had a small museum in his foyer. I found my eyes drawn to an ancient knife with what looked like a few blood drop stains. It was a very ornate knife, like I had read human politicians used to carry in ancient times. But, the blood on it had me confused. Those knives that I had read about had usually been just for show. The only instance in human history that I remembered reading about one being used to kill someone was when Brutus killed Julius Caesar with the help of the Roman Senate.

Noticing how quiet it was, I straightened my back and went to turn around while saying, "Are you alright out…"

A grunt escaped me throat as something hard slammed into the back of my neck and, scarily enough, my programming was stuck in a hiccup that the hit had caused. I couldn't see out of my soliform, or even control it for that matter, but I could feel as someone picked up my soliform and dragged it across the ground. A few bumps hit my feet, which were dragging, and I realized that it was just one person who had attacked me. Whoever this was must have had experience attacking people because they seemed able to drag my soliform, which weighed the same amount as an average human adult male.

After a minute, I felt my attacker place me in a chair and rope soon bound me to said piece of furniture…effectively turning my attacker into a kidnapper. After another minute, I was finally able to break free of the knot the attack caused and my sight and mobility came back to me, though the mobility wouldn't be easy to use right now. Glancing in front of me, I was surprised to see the man that owned the house, George Lafayette I think his name was, sitting on a recliner with a loaded…crossbow?

"Don't worry." George started. Right, the guy with the loaded crossbow was telling me not to worry. Great. I got caught by a serial killer who was now going to dissect my poor soliform slowly…and I liked this one too! "If you answer my questions honestly I won't have to use this."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Right. You trick me inside your house, knock me out, tie me to a chair, and threaten me with a loaded crossbow and I'm _not_ supposed to worry?"

To my surprise, he just shrugged before saying, "What's your name?"

Didn't we go over this outside? "My name is Oliver Lerc…" I stopped and flinched as George shot the crossbow and it barely missed the skin of my head, though it did cut off a good chunk of hair. "Hey what's the idea!? How can I answer honestly if you shoot me before I finish answering?" I yelled at him. Might not seem like a good idea but I was mad now. If he was going to set down guidelines, the least he should do is follow them.

Instead of yelling, like I thought this psycho would, he simply smirked darkly with anger in his eyes. "I told you not to lie to me. If it helps you tell the truth, I already know that you aren't human."

What?! That meant that this guy was a soliform. He had to be! That was the only way that he would know that I wasn't human. So, that meant that I had to give this guy my actual information. Unfortunately, I had parked my alt mode just down the street and, from how this guy was acting, it wouldn't take him long to find it and attack me in that form. "Once-Ler. Lieutenant General Once-Ler of the Dragonian army." If this guy was a Crassen, then he would not hesitate to reprimand me for speaking as if Dragonia had become independent of Cybertron.

However, to my surprise, his reaction was not anger at my response. From the way the tension left his shoulders, after I introduced myself, he was…relieved. "I had a feeling that it was you Once-Ler. But, I had to be sure." To my relief, he set down the crossbow. But, he made no move to untie me.

But, I didn't care at this second. Since he did not reprimand me, that meant that this guy was really a Dragonian! I was ecstatic to finally find another of our people, or be captured by one as the case would be now, and I wondered just who this was. George seemed to know me and, from how he spoke, he knew me quite well. "What about you? What is your name?" I questioned him back. Since I gave him my name, surely he would give me his.

But, that didn't seem to be true as he shook his head. "No, I still have some more questions for you before that. Plus, I doubt that you would believe me if I told you." Of course I would! He was a Dragonian and I trusted my fellow Dragonians…just like Marquis taught me to. "Which bots of the higher command do you have contact with? Which are still alive?"

Well, I could answer that to the best I could. "As far as I know, the only ones offline are Chief General Chaom and General Marquis. I haven't been in contact with General Pandimala, General Vox, General Chorale, General Comet Gale, or General Scallion. But, last I heard they were still online. However, I came to this planet in 1910 AD local time with General Aranzer and his organization, Cirkus, and with us was General Jabberwocky. I left them two weeks ago to search the planet for more of us. From the looks of the situation here, it seems I found one."

George looked even more relieved when I told him that information. "That's good news. They are all still online." He then stared at me more directly. "Do you have a place to stay now that you have left Cirkus?"

I shook my head. "No. I have just been living in caves as I move from town to town." I then stopped myself and stared at him. "Why?"

He let out a laugh that sounded vaguely familiar before saying, "I must welcome a fellow Dragonian, and such a good friend at that, into my home without a nano-click of hesitation. Please accept my offer."

At first, I stared at him in shock. He called me a good friend and yet wouldn't tell me his name? And yet without that information he wanted me to live with him? How could I live with him if I didn't even know my name? While General Marquis had taught me to trust he also taught me that it was polite to exchange names before any trust could begin, and remind someone of a name if it has been forgotten. This soliform knew my name and yet I still couldn't figure his out. "Only if you promise to reveal your name to me right now. If you do, then I give you my word on my honor as a Dragonian that I will stay here with you until you deem otherwise."

I expected him to hesitate. To try and worm his way out of it. But, to my surprise, he didn't hold back. "General Marquis."

My spark stopped as the name left his lips. No…it couldn't be. From all we knew, General Marquis was offline. Even if I believed he was still offline somewhere, I couldn't accept that the man in front of me just happened to be him. "General Marquis was declared offline by General Pandimala. If you are who you say you are, then prove it to me. Tell me something that only General Marquis would know." I felt my spark racing as the nano-clicks drifted by. This was it. If he truly was Marquis, which a part of me hopped he was, then this would be easy for him to do.

After about three seconds, George Lafayette answered me. "Very well. I believe it was the fifth solar cycle after you became my aide-de-kamp that this situation happened." My own mind raced back to that day and I realized what story he would have to tell if he was really Marquis. "You and I were resting in a small bar outside of Shenap before continuing to Pith's capital city of Silving. Of course, we were undercover due to a high amount of Crassen troops between us and Silving. We were both disguised as femmes and were blending in quite well surprisingly. Before we left though, two neutrals named Issimo and Kreigan came in and Issimo started to talk about their views of the Revolution. While we would agree with what was said, the Crassen troops around us weren't so. I'm I right so far?" He asked me.

So far so good. Issimo had been the one to talk. If compared to the languages of Earth, Issimo had an Italian accent while Kreigan had a German one. This was a strange event that we hadn't even reported everything about to the higher command. Of course, that was due to what occurred next…if this so called 'Marquis' answered correctly. "So far you are alright, but that is common knowledge among Dragonians." I knew he was at least a Dragonian but I couldn't believe that this man in front of me was Marquis. I just couldn't.

George nodded and continued. "So, you and I both knew we needed to interfere with what was going on. To do so, I took the initiative and grabbed Issimo around the waste before saying, and I quote, 'Come now sweet, you know you are for the Council but frag you know that bad talk gets my engine going', before I laid one on his lip-plates. Everyone in the bar stared at us for a click until I moved back and motioned upstairs. You and Kreigan followed Issimo and I and, once we were behind closed doors, you and I took off our disguises and explained the situation to them. Issimo and I immediately went about laughing what happened while Kreigan and you were blushing so bad they probably thought you were sending off flares. Once we stopped laughing, we decided to bunk together and, that night, Issimo crawled into the bunk you and I were sharing and asked if he and Kreigan could travel with us to Silving. Issimo told us that he and Kreigan were actually trying to get to Silving to join the Dragonian cause." George then let out a laugh. "Then Issimo kissed both of our cheeks before he left and crawled into Kreigan's berth."

My spark felt like it was growing so large that it would burst. This…no one else would know that many details about that mission, especially the part where Marquis full on kissed Issimo. That had been our little secret. Especially since, as we found out later, Kreigan was actually courting Issimo at that time and wanted to bash Marquis' helm in for that stunt…no matter if it saved their skid-plates.

That was all the proof that I needed that this soliform in front of me was and truly is, Marquis. I moved to embrace him to let him know that he was now not alone but, there was one small problem. "Um…Marquis?" I asked while flapping my hands.

He looked at the rope and looked surprised before he let out a laugh. "Sorry about that Once. You caught me at a bad time." Right. More like he caught me. He then stood up and went behind me. A few seconds later, I felt the rope fall lax and I wasted no time in throwing it off of me and embracing my friend. He was alive. I was elated and I couldn't think of anything that could ruin it. "Once, while I am ecstatic to see you, what are you doing here on Earth and not on Dragonia?"

…Well, nothing could ruin it except that question.

* * *

 **Once-Ler: *laughs* Well, it sure is good to see you alive Marquis! *stops fake bravado and tears form* I...I was so lonely without you! *hugs Marquis***

 **Marquis: *hugs Once-Ler* It's alright Once-Ler. But there are so many questions in my mind that I need answers for. First and foremost what are you doing here instead...**

 **Authoress: Don't even ask Marquis. Guess who has a photo of you laying one on Issimo? *holds up photo so seeing back* You know what they say about Italians and romance...right? *smirks and runs***

 **Marquis: *panics* Don't you dare upload that photo! *runs after Authoress***

 **Once-Ler: *laughs* Well, this is going to be a party, and I have the best seat in the house! *sits and watches Marquis chase Authoress***

* * *

 **AN: And here it is! This is the long awaited for chapter where Marquis finally meets another Dragonian! But...what's so wrong about Marquis asking Once-Ler about Dragonia? Something foul is afoot and we will find out what that something is next chapter. Sorry I've been away for so long but my muse keeps bouncing me from story to story and I was finally able to update this one. For quite a while, please don't expect fast updates but, when I do get them updated, I hope you like them. Next chapter finishes up this interaction and then we meet move on to Scallion and his interaction with a child of Primus...though maybe not such a nice meeting. Also next chapter we get to meet Issimo and Kreigan! If anyone can tell me where I referenced Issimo and Kreigan from I'll give them a cookie. If you can't get it by the time I go to update next chapter then I'll post a hint next chapter (plus their being in the chapter will help with that slightly XD ) but if you guess after that then you just get a piece of a cookie. If you still haven't guessed by the time I post the chapter after that then I will reveal it and no one will get any amount of cookie! *hoards cookies***

 **Well, that's all I have to say for now. Please leave a review, even to say hello, and any flames will be given to the Crassen. They like to bathe in them right? Well, until next time, I guess this is farewell. *walks off singing about French Perfume***


	5. A Harsh Reality

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Once-Ler: Well, I'll be a petro-rabbit's uncle. Authoress can actually update quickly.**

 **Authoress: *oblivious* Yeah I...*realizes what was said* *sarcastically* Very funny Once-Ler. Did you think of that all by yourself?**

 **Marquis: *laughs* Well, you have to admit that he has a point. You haven't been updating this frequently in a while.**

 **Authoress: *shrugs* I give credit to the history classes I am taking. They give me inspirational fuel.**

* * *

 **AN: Dragonian translations to be located at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Ch. 5: A Harsh Reality

 **Once-Ler's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I let out a shaky sigh as Marquis asked that question. Out of all the multitude of questions that were available for him to ask, any at all, and he chose the one that was the most painful. But, as I looked into Marquis' human eyes, I realized that he was ready for this. He had been alone for millions of years, with none of us near him. To what he had been through, not much would change. Oh, he would feel sorrow, that's for sure. But, I knew that he would be able to overcome this information…and rather quickly at that.

"You know, Marquis," I laughed out weakly. "out of all the questions you could have asked me, you chose the most difficult one to answer."

He looked at me with a confused and worried look. "Once-Ler…what's so wrong with that question?" His tone was slow and steady as he asked me that. In his eyes, I could see him tensing for whatever answer I would give him.

Frag it why did it have to be me!? Seriously this wasn't easy to watch when it happened and at that point I didn't have to speak. The fragging Crassen who had me captured at the time made sure that I stayed wide awake for that. A shiver traveled through my body as I remembered the drugs that sadistic son of a glitch pumped into my systems to before he forced me to stay online for solar cycles until, finally…it happened.

"Marquis you…it would be best if you sat down for this." I motioned to him before I took off my hat and sat in his second recliner. In a rare moment that I wouldn't forget, I saw fear in Marquis' eyes as he sat down. Once we were both comfortable, I fiddled with the rim of my hat for a click before I took my right hand and ran it through my hair. Frag this wasn't going to be easy. "Marquis…well…"

"Once-Ler." I jumped and looked up at Marquis as he spoke to me. Even though that fear was still in his eyes, I could also see cold determination and encouragement. It was a strange combination but also one that, also strangely, made me feel comfortable. "I have a feeling that whatever you are about to say is going to be difficult. It is best as, like the humans say, to rip the band-aid off and just say it."

So, I took my General's orders like before and complied. "Marquis the reason that I, and Cirkus as well as any other Dragonians who could be here, are living on Earth instead of Dragonian is because…" I felt my throat constrict as the words that needed to be said tried to refuse to come out. But, after a few seconds of hacking fighting, with tears in my human eyes, I finally said it. "…because after we lost the Revolution, the council decided to make an example of Dragonia. They…they destroyed it!" I yelled at the end as the tears flowed from my eyes. Soon, the pain became too much so I had to place my hands on my head as I cried.

It wasn't out of shame that I did that. But, memories of that day flashed into my mind as I said it. That monster of a Crassen having my systems pumped full of drugs and being forced to watch every excruciating second of my adopted home's…no, my home's destruction. Then the bastard had played it repeatedly and all I could do was watch until the drugs overworked my system and crashed me.

My home…it was gone. Now, I had just told Marquis the same thing. I looked up at my friend, my soliform's face slightly puffed from shedding those tears, and I saw that my dear friend was crying. But, he didn't cover his face…which I found slightly odd. Marquis, before, didn't like when others saw him cry. He would leave the room if he even felt close to shedding tears. But, now he was letting human tears fall in rivulets down his soliform's cheeks. His shoulders shook, the strange outfit he wore seemingly amplifying the sorrowing affect.

"I'm…I'm so sorry Once-Ler." Marquis finally spoke in a hoarse whisper.

Shock ran through my systems and I'm sure my soliform flickered for a nano-click…something I was working on fixing, before I got out of the chair and knelt in front of Marquis. Taking his hands in mine, I forced him to look at me. "Marquis, what in the Pit are you apologizing for? I am doing my duty as a Dragonian in telling you this…especially after everybot has thought you offline for all these stellar cycles and you've had to suffer without help and without support. Why in Primus' name are you apologizing?!"

I felt him flinch, from the contact I had with his hands, before he moved and knelt to the ground in front of me. Before I could even think of stopping him Marquis wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I felt his body vibrate as he continued to cry. "I'm so…so sorry Once-Ler. Because of the mission I was sent on, I left you and everyone else to suffer as those Crassen tried to torture you. I studied torture tactics and I know that you must have suffered immensely after our defeat."

"Marquis…" I tried to interrupt him. He didn't deserve this. Not at all. We were the ones that gave up on him and yet here he was apologizing.

"Brysal." I flinched as I heard the Dragonian language leave Marquis' lips. It had been so long since I had heard him speak in our common tongue. Most of us only used it in rare circumstance…even before coming to Earth, and here was Marquis speaking it. I listened carefully as he spoke. "Als ha qisertal vas milsht fozhum har als cayran utlan ipo." No, he didn't fail us! I went to say so but he continued even more forcefully. "Flax, vilase ictarsan traste har uns hask seanic ulp aki xalstam."

I could hear his worried tone with his last sentence. Even though I didn't agree with Marquis about failing us…his family, I did agree that we had to focus on the present. But, the tone that he said that word, 'present' had me extremely worried. It was worry mixed with anger. "Marquis, you spoke of having a bad day when you first spoke with me. Just what happened?"

Marquis finally pulled away from me and we both helped each other up. I was surprised when he continued to speak in Dragonian. "Once-Ler...als harg plasnic ghetel baxtre nix Crassen bixtrea."

Anger gripped my spark in my alt mode and I know my engine revved. But, I didn't give two pieces of scrap about my identity being revealed. Not when I knew that the Crassen, those monsters who destroyed our home and all those citizens that couldn't escape, where on this planet. What I wouldn't give to tear into one right now and make them suffer just as much as we were.

Of course, then a good piece of information came to my head that I could share with Marquis that would hopefully make this solar cycle better. "But you aren't caught up on recent events, are you? Well I believe in karma and those Crassen got bit in the aft hard by one." That caused a smile to grace his face and I was so happy that he was smiling. An angry Marquis wasn't a fun one and so I wanted to make sure that smile stayed on his face as much as possible.

"Really?" Marquis asked as we stood up. "What happened?" I could see excitement in his eyes as he waited for my answer.

So, I figured I better not keep my General waiting any longer. "A couple million years ago, the Crassen got entrenched in their own civil war, which they fought for the same reasons we declared our independence, and their fighting got so bad that they made their own world go cold. They killed their own planet because of their fighting that is still going on." I then grew serious though. "If there are Crassen here on Earth than we can guess that they aren't looking for us, or they may have even forgotten about us. They have probably brought their fighting here." I then paused as I realized I had no idea how he knew the Crassen where here. "Marquis, how did you find out the Crassen where here anyways?"

He sighed and motioned to the kitchen, where he started to cook, before he started to explain. "For this life around I'm a teacher at the local high school and three of my students, before I got here, entered advanced technology items for their science fair projects. Well…two of them did. That told me that, at the very least, a child of Primus was hiding out around here and interacting with the humans. But, it was the third student's display that caused me to discover that it was a Crassen that was here on this planet. They had a display of Cybertron and its two moons."

Even now I could see anger flickering in Marquis' eyes at the mention of the Crassen and I knew that I had to get him off the subject of Crassen for today. My reveal about Dragonia being destroyed must have really hit him hard and the knowledge of them being here didn't help the case. "Marquis," I started as the best way to get him off the Crassen subject came to me. "how long have you been awake on this planet and what have you been up to?"

He paused in his cooking and smiled at me. "I crashed landed here only thirty solar cycles after I left Dragonia on the mission that Chief General Chaom gave me to look for energon reserves just in case the fight turned against us. I was knocked into a forced stasis for millions of years until I was awoken more than eight thousand stellar cycles ago. Since then? Well, pull out the pasta and help me cook some dinner. My friend Sarah is probably going to come over and you need caught up on everything that's happened to me and it takes longer than an hour for us to do that."

We both let out laughs before I went to where he motioned and pulled out some egg noodles and then started to look around for some alfredo sauce. This solar cycle couldn't have ended up better if I had sold my spark for it. My General Marquis was still online and he was just as impressive now as he was on that very first solar cycle I met him.

 **Miko's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

This day was turning out to be one of the best days ever! First off, the school decided to give everyone a few days off after what happened in Carson City to help us ease back into school activity. I was aright but I didn't mind getting some days off from school. This way I could spend more time with Bulkhead. But, today got even better because, when we got here a few hours ago, the base got a call from one of Optimus' old friends, a mech called Sentinel Major, and he was coming with three other bots to assist our Autobots in the fight against the Decepticons! I was stoked that more bots were coming.

Right now, I was sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder as we all waited. Jack and Raf were on the couch while Fowler was pacing back and forth. If he didn't stop he was probably going to wear a path in the metal. Bulk and Ratchet had stayed with us while Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Cliffjumper went to bring the new bots here.

Yeah, Cliffjumper got into a nasty fight with the Decepticons before we met the bots and was in an energon explosion but the 'Bots got there in time to save him from his injuries and the Decepticons. He was a cool bot.

The sound of the ground bridge powering up had me turning excitedly and, soon, the bots returned. The first new bot that came through was a large bot who looked like he transformed into a large car except for the fact that he had rotor blades on his back. But, he had wheels as well. Just what kind of alt mode could he have? He was a light green mainly but had yellow shoulders and a yellow chestplate. He had light blue optics, a light gray face, and he looked like a friendly bot and, from Bulkhead's smile when he walked through, he knew the bot.

I saw Jack jump as the next bot came in next to Arcee. She was just a little taller than Arcee and had six spider legs on each side. I remember them saying something about a spider bot called Airachnid that Arcee was rivals with but I didn't think this was her because this was an Autobot and her and Arcee seemed to be talking lightly. This new femme was mainly gold with black and purple accents. Her helm was smooth and she had four orange optics and her faceplate was light gray. She looked wicked!

After them walked in Bumblebee who was followed by a black truck mech. I wasn't sure why but this bot sort of gave me the heebie jeebies. He was about Bulkhead's height but he was slightly slimmer than Bulk. But, his teal optics kept darting around the room and he just radiated suspicion. He had a dark gray faceplate and he had a frown on his face. Didn't seem like a fun guy at all. Plus, from the way Bulk tensed when he walked in I had a feeling that they had a history…and probably not a good one. But, they were both Autobots so at least that said something about him.

Ratchet then walked in but he looked even more unhappy then he normally did. Wonder why that was? Well, after him came Cliffjumper and then Optimus with the last new bot. He was as tall as Optimus but was blue and orange and he had a chin the size of Texas. Seriously it had to have its own zip code. But, he was built like Optimus, though he looked like he could turn into a plow, and he had a wicked looking shield that had two points on top and two points on bottom on his back with what looked like some kind of hi-tech spear.

"I still don't see why the only place you could have us land was in the middle of a desert Optimus!" The mech next to Optimus complained.

Optimus let out a sigh as the ground bridge closed before saying, "It was the only place where we could keep your ship undetected by the human civilians long enough to bring you here and put your ship into hiding. We are in disguise on this planet to avoid panic among the populace."

I really didn't like this new bot now. But, before I could say anything, the helicopter car bot came up to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead! How have you been mech? I haven't seen you since the battle of Thunderhead Pass."

Bulk let out a laugh before saying, "I've been great! How about you ya old wrecker?"

"He's a wrecker?" I asked excitedly. This was another of the special team that Bulk had told me so much about. They were the best fighters and I bet he would be great at dune bashing.

The bot looked at me before saying, "I don't think we've been introduced. The name's Springer. I'm a triple changer fighting for the Autobots. What about you?"

A triple changer? "The name's Miko. What's a triple changer?"

Springer looked at Bulkhead in surprise. "You mean you bots haven't told them what a triple changer is?" He then looked at me. "Why a triple changer can help decide the course of an entire battle. We triple changers can have two alt modes. I have a ground based mode and an air based mode as well as this form." My eyes went wide with excitement at his words.

"So, have you ever changed in mid-air from your air to land form? How many fights have you been in? Can you shoot a 'Con from far away? How many 'Cons have you killed?" I asked expecting my questions to be answered.

But, Springer just laughed. "Well, I have done the first, couldn't tell you how many fights I've been in, and the rest you'll have to find out later."

"Aw." I complained while sitting down on Bulkhead's shoulder. Took the fun out of asking questions.

"Prime," Fowler started. "I'll need names for all these bots to take back to my superiors." He seemed impatient. Was probably missing a history documentary on America's greatness or something like that.

But, Optimus nodded all the same and motioned to the bot standing next to him. "This is Sentinel Major." So, big chin was called Sentinel Major. I'd have to remember that later.

Sentinel then stepped forward. "Not that it is any of your concern though." He then sighed and motioned to the black truck mech. "This is Pitch. He works with information." Then he motioned to Springer. "That is Springer." He then pointed to the spider lady. "And that is Blackarachnia." He then turned to Optimus. "We are going to need housing and I want to survey a ten-mile area around the base to check for possible enemy bases nearby."

"The Decepticons are not as active here than they were on Cybertron but if you would like you may do so once you are settled in your lodgings." Optimus agreed before everyone left except for Springer, Bulk, Ratchet, and me.

"What's crawled up his tailpipe?" I asked to the bots in the room.

Springer and Bulkhead shrugged but it was Ratchet who decided to answer. "Sentinel Major is the son of the late Sentinel Prime. He always felt slighted that Optimus was chosen by Primus to be the next Prime so there is always tension between the two. But, Optimus deals with it the best he can."

The three of us looked at each other before Bulkhead asked a question. "So, he's only mad that he wasn't picked?"

"No." Ratchet started. "Sentinel Major was also upset that Optimus had very little war experience when he was chosen."

"Hold up." I interrupted. All three looked at me as I continued. "What other war experience could he have gotten before?"

Springer and Bulkhead looked like they were going to answer me but Ratchet shook his helm. "Plenty. Even I had war experience before the Decepticons started this civil war. For a bot of Optimus' age, he would have been just old enough to fight in the Dragonian War."

Dragonian? Did that mean that they fought dragons? "Did you fight,"

"No, we did not fight dragons Miko." Ratchet interrupted me. He seemed more high strung then normal. "Cybertron, when I was Optimus' age, was a very prosperous planet with many colony planets. However, those colony planets sometimes felt like they were being taken advantage of and would send in complaints to the council and the Prime of the time; Sentinel Prime."

"Sentinel Major's sire." Springer stated. All three of us were very interested in what Ratchet was saying. I wasn't sure about Bulkhead and Springer, but us kids didn't hear anything about the bots except for what connected with this war.

Ratchet nodded. "Precisely." He then sighed. "However, there was one colony planet that decided to do more; Dragonia. From what the council released, they were a rough planet that were savages. So, the draft was sent out and we were sent to fight them. I went to Dragonia about halfway through the war and was placed in a platoon with Sentinel Major, Pitch, and… a few others." I noticed that he hesitated when saying who he was with but I held back. "What I found when I got there was that these Dragonians were far more competent in fighting a war. At one point, they even entered an alliance with the Cybertronian city-state of Vos. They had not been given a seat on the council and probably felt that if the Dragonians won, which they showed they could do, then that would garner them respect and power on Cybertron. It would have too, if they didn't switch loyalties and join the council. The Dragonians lost but there were heavy casualties on both sides."

The three of us stared at Ratchet in shock but, also, my mind was trying to wake up and think of why this story sounded familiar. Obviously, I didn't hear it from the bots but there was something about it that was just so familiar. "So, you ever go back to that planet?" I asked him.

This time, all three of them shook their helms. "Even I know this much." Bulk started. "That area of space was off limits to all Cybertronians sometime before the Decepticons attacked Cybertron."

"Yes." Ratchet took over. "The council made almost an entire galaxy off limits to any Cybertronian. Punishment for entering that space was a charge of treason and immediate offlining. Even though the council never would have admitted it, they were terrified of the Dragonians. Even though their numbers were less than our own, they were extremely well trained and had posed a threat to the council's power off Cybertron. They didn't want anyone going near there."

"What about the bots on Dragonia?" I asked.

"I heard that they had trade connections with non-Cybertronians and that they have been able to sustain themselves, barely, ever since. Though I don't know, I assume that with this war going on more planets might be trading with them."

Ratchet then went quiet and I was going to ask him for more information about this Dragonia place but then I heard heavy footsteps. Turning, I saw that Sentinel Major was coming back down the hall and he looked annoyed. I was going to assume that was his permanent look and leave it at that.

"I require a ground bridge." Sentinel demanded as he stood in front of the bridge. "I have already acquired a suitable alternate mode to stay hidden from the humans when necessary. I wish to be transported ten miles west of this base so I can begin my sweep."

He seriously needed to chill out. I mean, he was so annoying and bossy. If I was allowed at him I'd take him down to size. Yeah. That's what I'd do. "Ground bridge activated." Ratchet stated as he pulled the lever down and the bridge came to life.

As the new bot walked through, I thought about what Ratchet said before a random thought suddenly came to me. "Crap that paper for Frenchy is still due Monday!" I then ran to my backpack and pulled out my paper. I had a long way to go and I wanted to continue dozing off in his class and doodling. I was not going to lose that because I was curious about Sentinel stick-up-his-aft Major.

 **Issimo's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I laughed as I drove around the desert land here in Nevada. The sun was warm and shining on my chassis, the sand wasn't sticking to my gears which was a plus, and I could drive out here without using my soliform. Using my soliform was such a bother and I didn't like to use it. But, Kreigan insisted that we use it when around humans. I mean, how was I supposed to have fun if he was always like 'you can't travel near human settlements without using your soliform period'?

But, going to the human towns was the best because they had created the most Well-inspired food that any creature could possible ever make. Humans could grow the base of this food at will and transform it into some of the most delicious meals of all time. I was so grateful that Kreigan and I had learned to eat human food to restore our energon stores in our chassis in the year 1000 B.C. It was the saving grace. I made sure that we spent a lot of time with the Romans because of this food. What food was that? Well, that's easy.

Pasta!

" **Issimo! How much longer are you going to keep up with that? We need to get to the town of Jasper immediately. That energy signal we detected a few hours ago could lead us to another Dragonian."** Kreigan contacted me through our bondmate bond. To the humans, he had what was called a German accent. Didn't know what that meant though. Do germs have accents?

Thankfully, after the Revolution was lost Kreigan had been able to get me off Dragonia so I wouldn't be used against him. We had bonded during the fighting on Dragonia and that had made me the happiest mech in any galaxy. But, if we would have been captured, the Crassen could have hurt Kreigan through hurting me. I didn't want my bondmate to be hurt because of our bond so I was glad that it didn't happen.

But, he had a habit of only talking over the bond now so Crassen couldn't intercept the calls we might make. However, I humored him and answered back on it. **"Kreigan, why do you insist on using our bond whenever we have to talk away from each other? I mean, what are the chances that a Crassen is on this planet, so far away from where Dragonia used to be and where Cybertron is?"** To the humans, I had an Italian accent and, while I didn't know what that meant, I did learn that Italian's like pasta so I was happy with it!

Kreigan sighed over our bond. **"Oh Issimo, I know that the chances of a Crassen being here on Earth is small, but I don't want you getting put in danger or hurt. You aren't a fighter but our enemies always assume you are. Plus, it doesn't help that you don't have a filter for that mouth of yours."** He then paused. **"How much longer will you be Issimo?"**

Yeah, while I joined the Dragonians, I didn't join as a soldier. I was mainly a civilian but I could be of medical help when needed. I usually had to work on Kreigan most of the time. He scared a lot of the other soldiers at times but that was because he didn't know how to express himself like I did. **"I'll be done in a few clicks and then I'll contact you when I'm on my way to the rendezvous point."**

" **Very well,"** Kreigan sighed. **"But please, Issimo, stay safe for me."**

" **I will Kreigan."** I answered him before we closed communication with the bond.

I only had a few minutes left now and I didn't want to waste any time. After this, I was going to have to turn back on my soliform and that wasn't going to be fun…unless they had pasta. "Yummy…pasta!" I sang to myself out loud as I took a turn around a canyon bend.

And immediately I transformed out of shock and landed on my aft as I stared at the object not three hundred yards in front of me: a groundbridge. Unless there was another Dragonian happening near here now, which I doubted with my luck, then I had a really bad feeling about…

My light orange optics widened in shock, my dark blue chassis shaking as I felt terror seep into my spark. Memories of an attack that I had been the victim of drowning my memories as the blue pede with orange marking stepped out of the bridge. No. It couldn't be him. It couldn't! But, as the rest of the chassis stepped out of the bridge, I knew that it had to be. The attack was still fresh in my processor as the mech that came out of the bridge looked toward me.

A cold night, a lance enveloped by lightning, a mighty hammer wielded by a towering foe, and the third bot, who looked conflicted with two swords in his servos. Rain splattering on my chassis that soon mixed with energon spilt from lance and hammer. The one with the swords intervened and gave me a chance to escape. But, that sword wielder was not the one here.

No, the one here slowly took his terrifying lance off his back as the ground bridge slowly closed, was a mech who I feared a lot…and I feared a lot of Crassen so fearing him a lot was a big deal. I felt my spark rate quicken as the mech in front of me smirked and activated his spear, lightning arcing all around it. "Well, I'm not sure why, but I had a feeling that some of you Dragonian maggots would be on this planet…and my least favorite one to boot." His smirk then grew. "This is going to be fun."

I wasted no time and threw open an open comm line that was linked to any Dragonian, though I was trying to contact Kreigan. "Help me help me!" I yelled as I finally picked myself up and started to run on pede out of the canyon.

"Issimo what's wrong!?" Kreigan yelled through the other side of the comm line. I could hear panicked worry in his voice but it didn't sound a thing like my own.

"Crassen it's Crassen!" I screamed as the lightning started to arc from the spear and around my chassis. Thankfully, I was agile but I knew that I wouldn't be able to dodge for long. "It's…it's Sentinel!"

"I'm on my way Issimo just keep running!" Kreigan answered me before continuing. "And repeat who it is? I thought I heard you say Sentinel? But, he's offline."

I took a quick glance back, my engine pumping in overdrive as I ran in random patterns across the desert. "It's…it's Sentinel…Sentinel Major!" I screamed, tears in my optics. I didn't want to die! A strangled yelp left me as I tripped and tumbled down a sand dune.

"ISS," I partially heard Kreigan yell before I hit my helm on a rock that had been mostly covered by the sand. Then, all I heard was static.

"No! Answer me please!" I pleaded in a panic as I struggled to stand up. But, all I heard was static. "No…Kreigan please answer," I started before a shriek left my vocals as electricity jolted through my systems and I collapsed to the ground on my back. I couldn't see at first and that sent panic through my spark. But, as my vision reappeared, I wished it hadn't and I dragged myself back as Sentinel Major walked slowly, and almost mockingly toward me. I felt my entire chassis vibrating with fear as I tried to move back.

A scream ripped out of my vocals as Sentinel slammed his lance into my lower leg strut. Energon was slowly leaking out and I felt electricity coursing through my chassis. "Well, a little Dragonian looks to be caught under my lance."

"Don't hurt me. I don't know anything!" I cried as I tried to get my leg off the lance. But, it was not working and I cried as the pain only increased.

But if I was hoping that the Crassen would listen to me then I would have been disappointed. "You know, I feel like this has to be the best solar cycle now. Taking one of you scum out of existence would be doing the world a favor."

"No I don't want to offline I don't want to!" I cried as I struggled against the lance some more. I knew I was losing energon quickly and that my low energon signal would start to appear soon but I was desperate to get away. I would rather lose my leg then allow this Crassen…especially this Crassen, to capture me. Losing my leg would be like taking a nap compared to what this Crassen would do to me. I flinched as more pain shot up my leg. I didn't want to die!

I shivered as Sentinel Major smirked slowly. "Or, I could take you back to the Autobot base. I'm sure you've heard of Pitch?" My optics widened at the name. I never met him but Kreigan had heard of him before and he said Pitch was just as evil as Sentinel. I had to get out of here!

"Please let me go!" I begged, tears streaming down my faceplate.

The Crassen laughed and took his lance out of my leg, energon dripping down it, and then started to lift it up. "I think I'll just end you instead. Pitch isn't going to be happy that I get to take out the first Dragonian in millions of stellar cycles but he'll get over it."

The sound of a jet overhead caused me to look up and a relieved smile flashed widely on my faceplate. "KREIGAN!" I screamed in joy.

I saw the Crassen's face fill with fear and I felt even more joy. But, my leg was starting to sting and spark. However, I was going to stay awake for this. A click after I said his, my Kreigan came down and kicked sentinel while transforming on the fly. Kreigan landed in front of me and took out his legend class hammer that he called Erlösung. While it was just a name in Dragonian for a lead cyber-wolf in a pack, we discovered that a language called German here on Earth…a language that developed after we arrived here, that Erlösung means solution.

With the meaning from both sources, his hammer was a lead cyber-wolf whose goal was getting a solution. And the solution these Crassen would face was pain. "Your opponent is me!" Kreigan snarled at the Crassen before he stood by me and glanced down. "Issimo, are you alright for now?"

I nodded and bit my bottom lip plate. "Y…yes I…Kreigan look out!" I screamed out as the Crassen started to charge at Kreigan.

In return, Kreigan turned around with his hammer raised before taking it full swing and knocked the Crassen's lance. The lance was knocked aside and Kreigan turned, gaining momentum before he slammed it into Sentinel and shot him backwards. The Crassen stumbled and seemed to get on his comm link. Probably to call in backup. But, while he did, Kreigan came up to me. "Issimo are you alright for now?"

I nodded and took a small breath before saying, "I'm alright for now. But, my leg hurts."

He looked at my bleeding leg and let out a sigh. "Oh Issimo, that's not going to be easy to fix."

"Can I have pasta later?" I asked with my cyber-kitty eyes.

Kreigan smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Yes Issimo we can," He stopped himself and I felt a shiver travel down my spinal strut as I heard a ground bridge open. Out stepped a mech with black armor and teal optics. Usually I liked the color blue. I mean, I'm blue and all. But, I didn't like the cold look in that Crassen's optics.

"Pitch, I'm glad you could come join me." Sentinel Major laughed as he readjusted the grip he had on his lance. "I have one Dragonian scum incapacitated but this one in front of us is a legend for a regular Dragonian troop. I might even need your assistance against him…if it is really the bot that the piece of scrap over there called him."

The new Crassen, who Sentinel said was the mech Pitch that Kreigan had heard about, walked next to Sentinel while taking out a sword and saying, "Oh? And who might this be? The ones we have heard about usually have something extra special about them."

Kreigan moved himself closer to them in a defensive way. "I am called Kreigan and I swear that you will have to walk over my cold offline shell to get near him again." I hated it, and yet I loved it, when he talked like that. I didn't want him to die but I knew that he would fight to protect me no matter what.

What I didn't like was the dark look that came onto both Crassens' faceplates. "Well, I've certainly heard that designation a few times. You should prove a valuable test subject." Pitch responded to Kreigan's introduction.

I was scared for Kreigan…since I knew that he wouldn't be scared for himself. If only I was a fighter I could help protect him like he protected me. **"Issimo I love you just the way you are and I always will."** Kreigan spoke to me over our bond before he tightened his grip on Erlösung and attacked the Crassen.

Kreigan would win. I knew that much. He never failed and, if he ever did, I knew that he would get right back up and continue fighting. That was who he was and I couldn't ask for a better mech at my side. As I watched though, I felt a slight panic as warning signs started to flash in my vision. No! I'd lost too much energon and I needed patched up quick. But, Kreigan was in the middle of a two on one battle and I couldn't distract him. While I knew some basic medical skills, I didn't have nearly enough to help me now. What I did know was that if I didn't get some help soon then I would lose my leg and, eventually, my spark.

"Fragging Crassen can't even fight a fair fight after the war." Kreigan snarled at the two bots. Worry crept into my system as I saw Kreigan taking heavy intakes. This wasn't good. If we didn't get out of this soon, then we might not get out of this at all.

Of course, the two Crassen looked even worse than Kreigan did. Kreigan was a wartime ghost that we spread rumors about through the Crassen camps and we spread them for a reason. Not many children of Primus could compete with him when it came to battle with Erlösung.

Laughter from Sentinel Major caused worry in me to grow. "You know what Dragonian scum, you're right. Fair fights aren't really my style. I like to win them instead." Then, he seemed to get on his comm link. "Base come in we are under attack by Dragonians and need backup!" I then watched in amazement as he broke his own transmitter and receiver. That had to hurt. But, why would he?

"You scum!" Kreigan roared before launching wildly at the two. I didn't understand what was so wrong with that at first. He was just proving our point and making the odds even more unfair.

At that last thought, though, it finally sank into my processor. No! If the Crassen got reinforcements, then Kreigan would be too outnumbered and he would be defeated and then they would come after me. "Kreigan!" I yelled as another ground bridge opened and a group of six more Crassen came through. "Kreigan get out of there!" I screamed at my bondmate.

He looked up from the two Crassen he was facing and I felt fear travel through our bond from him as the Crassen charged us. But, instead of retreating, my Kreigan gripped his hammer and I felt a wave of protection come over the bond. "You Crassen will not touch him." He then yelled before charging into battle.

I felt fear for my bondmate but, while Kreigan could distract the six new Crassen, the two I was really worried about were the ones now moving toward me. "Kreigan help me!" I screamed as they charged at me.

Kreigan turned to me, panic in his optics as Sentinel Major and Pitch moved toward me and he ran to stop them. "Issimo!" He yelled out to me but, as he started to move toward me one of the Crassen behind him bot a hit on his pede and he fell to the ground.

"Kreigan!" I yelled now more worried for my bondmate than for myself.

But, the movement in front of me caused me to remember what was going on and I shivered and tried to scoot away as the two Crassen came toward me. "Just stay still and this will be done with soon." Sentinel Major spoke in a neutral tone, though I could see the excitement in both of their faceplates and that terrified me.

"No stay away from me! STAY AWAY!" I yelled as my back plates hit the side of the rock I was near. For what seemed like the first time in billions of stellar cycles, though it was probably millions, I pulled out my blasters and trained them on the two. I wasn't a fighter, and I couldn't aim these things to save my spark…as would probably be shown here, but I was not going to let Kreigan and I go down without doing something. I had to do something. But, with how I was shaking, I knew deep down in my spark that it wouldn't be enough.

 **Galleon's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I sighed as my sister and I sat near the comm scanner. Once we had set up the bar and the house, Scallion had us take this out of our storage warehouse, where we also kept Drakkar's and Cutlass' alt modes, and to set it up on a frequency he gave us. It was a strange frequency that you really had to focus on to get on it. According to Scallion this was a special Dragonian frequency that one of General Pandimala's friends, called Vox, had set up so they could keep their messages safe from Crassen. It was so weird to call Cybertronians that word, Crassen, but I found that after spending time with Scallion, that it was becoming easier. That was especially so after hearing about all the stories of Crassen cruelty.

To be honest, before we met with Scallion, Caravel and I had been planning on leaving Earth and joining the fight for the Decepticons. While they weren't the greatest bunch out there, I had no love of the council after they had ordered our sire offlined when he started to speak out. When I had first heard word of the Dragonian Revolution, I was in a state of disbelief. A planet had been fighting against the council. But, after some time, word of the Dragonians had stopped and so Caravel and I eventually ended up on Earth in the year 1200 and so we made lives for ourselves while we decided what to do. It was almost fate that we had met on the Golden Hand. We weren't there long but we were there long enough to meet each other.

"Galleon, what are you thinking about?" Caravel asked from next to me.

Shaking my head, I put my boots up on the table next to the comm scanner before sighing. "Just the past. Remember when we met Scallion?"

I saw her eyes sparkle as she seemed to be thinking back. "Yes, it was probably one of the best solar cycles of our lives. You and I had been planning to take over the ship because we were bored with hiding that we were women. But, a voice suddenly said that it wouldn't be a good idea and we turned to see a man around our age with short blonde hair, though back then he didn't have the strip of green through it, and sharp lavender eyes. He then said that odds were that taking the ship was not going to work out for them no matter what. Then, he commented on our boots and the language of the children of Primus written on our boots. We were shocked that we were meeting another of our kind and he introduced himself and, when he said that he was a Dragonian, we asked him what happened with their Revolution. He told us and took us under his wings…well, wheels so to speak but still."

Nodding, I motioned to the comm line and said, "Now here we are helping Scallion, finally, after everything that he has done for us."

"Yeah," I sighed. "but what would really help him would be if we could find that blasted teacher. I didn't think that finding one guy in such a small town would be so hard but nothing yet. Maybe he already went into hiding?"

I was going to say more but the scanner suddenly burst with static for a click before a panicked voice with an Italian accent sounded on the other side. _"Help me help me!"_

A hit already!? Well, since we found that teacher scrap had to be going down soon. "Scallion get up here now. There's a voice on the scanner." I immediately sent down to him. He was helping Drakkar and Cutlass finish setting up the bar.

As I heard three sets of footsteps run up the stairs, a new voice came on the scanner. _"Issimo what's wrong!?"_

Issimo? That wasn't one of the names that Scallion said were Dragonian Generals. But, according to Scallion this frequency was only used by Dragonians so these had to be some of Scallions allies and that couldn't go unnoticed.

The door behind me opened and Scallion, Drakkar, and Cutlass gathered around us and Scallion asked, "Have they said their name yet?"

I shook my head. "No, but there is now another bot on here talking to the first one and the second bot called the first bot Issimo. The first bot has an Italian accent and the second bot has a German accent."

We grew quiet, though Scallion put his hand on my shoulder to probably keep himself from launching at the scanner, as the second voice came back on. _"Crassen it's Crassen!"_ So, Issimo was under attack by a Cybertronian…a Crassen. _"It's…it's Sentinel!"_ Sentinel? That didn't make sense. Sentinel Prime offlined at the start of the Cybertron Civil War between the Autobots and Decepticons.

But, I felt pressure from Scallion's hand and I looked up at our leader and was worried when I saw fear in his violet eyes. The second voice came back on before anything could be said. _"I'm on my way Issimo just keep running!"_ That mech sounded really worried for Issimo and it made me curious as to who he was. Also, why would he tell Issimo to run? _"And repeat who it is? I thought I heard you say Sentinel? But, he's offline."_ Okay, so it wasn't just me. Maybe this Issimo was suffering from heat stroke?

"Galleon," I turned to Scallion as he spoke, fear in his voice that shouldn't be there. "start tracking Issimo now."

Immediately I set to work tracking Issimo's signal. Scallion sounded afraid and I didn't like hearing that in my captain. He was worried about something and I had never seen him this tense. From his grip on my shoulder, I could tell that he was on the verge of breaking down.

" _It's…it's Sentinel…Sentinel Major!"_

Sentinel…Major? That name wasn't familiar to me but, from the death grip Scallion was holding my shoulder in, I had a feeling that it meant something big to him. But, we didn't have time to say anything as a yelp came from Issimo's side of the conversation.

" _ISSIMO!"_ The German voice yelled into the set. As he was, I finally got the coordinates to Issimo. After the yell, all that came from Issimo's side was static.

"I have the coordinates." I said as I stood up.

Scallion finally let go of my shoulder before saying, "We need to get to his position now. Protecting Issimo is priority number one and then fighting any Crassen you come across is second. Is that understood?"

We all nodded before I let my soliform go and I was soon outside the bar in my own chassis. I wasted no time in turning on my engine and launching down the street as fast as my wheels could burn rubber. "Scallion," I heard Cutlass start over our own comm line. "This Issimo is a Dragonian isn't he? Can't he fight?" Honestly, I had that thought myself briefly but I was glad that Cutlass had been the one to ask.

It took a click for Scallion to answer. "No. He has a couple weapons like most children of Primus have but Issimo can't fight. Plus, adding Sentinel Major to the mix again means that if we don't get there soon then Issimo might be offline, or captured."

Speaking of Sentinel. "Scallion, who is this Sentinel Major? He seems important but I've never heard of him."

I heard murmurs of agreement from the others before Scallion spoke. "Really? Of course, it kinda makes me happy that you all didn't know of him before this. That Crassen has an ego larger than Cybertron itself. He happens to be the only creation of the late Sentinel Prime. General Pandimala used to believe, and I still believe, that Sentinel Prime names his creation that in hopes of him becoming Prime so the name Sentinel Prime would continue."

"And what did you mean by Sentinel Major being added to the mix 'again'? Have they interacted before?" Drakkar asked.

I didn't catch that before but I was glad he asked. A sigh came from Scallion's side of the line. "It happened a long time ago during the Revolution. I don't want to get into the details now. But, we need to get to the battlefield and assist Kreigan."

Kreigan? "Was Kreigan the other voice on the line?" Caravel questioned as the two of us pulled ahead of Scallion. Scallion wasn't far behind us yet but we were faster than him by far. From my calculations, we would be the first ones there, since Drakkar and Cutlass had farther to fly then we had to drive, and that meant that we had to be ready to react to whatever we came up against.

"Yes. Kreigan is Issimo's bondmate. Make sure Kreigan knows that you are Dragonians and there to help. Unlike his bondmate, Kreigan is a very powerful and skilled fighter. He fights with a hammer called Erlösung and he could pose a challenge even to you two, Caravel and Galleon, and your own specialty." Scallion responded before he spoke again. "Now, let's keep radio silence until we get to the sight. Caravel and Galleon, I'm losing sight of you two so make sure you protect Issimo until the rest of us arrive."

"That's what I was thinking boss bot." I answered him before I turned off the line and focused on my driving putting even more speed behind my path.

This was our first mission as Dragonians against Crassen and I didn't want to let Scallion down. We would not let Scallion down. So, I knew that Caravel and I would have to give it our best and that meant doing what we did best. _"Caravel,"_ I started over our twin bond. _"You been keeping your secret weapon ready?"_

She laughed through our bond at that before saying, _"Of course, just as much as you have. We aren't called the Sea Terror Twins for nothing."_

" _Then make sure you are ready to use it."_ I told her as we made our way off road. We were ahead of Scallion by at least a click, if not more, and that meant that we had to be fully prepared for this.

Not a click later, we made a turn and came to a desert plain. There, I saw a small motorcycle mech with a hole in his leg. I had a feeling that he was Issimo. Also, I could see two brute mechs heading toward him and we simply couldn't have that.

 **Kreigan's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I growled as I struggled to stand up. Those blasted Crassen shot me in the leg while I was trying to get to Issimo! That Sentinel Major and Pitch were going to offline him if I didn't get to him now! I put everything that I had into trying to stand up. However, the sound of blasters behind me caused me to pause for only a nano-click. After that nano-click, I struggled to rise and, using Erlösung to steady my injured leg. Slag what happens to me, because if I didn't get to Issimo in time it wouldn't matter anyways.

"No stay away from me! STAY AWAY!" I felt my spark shrink as I heard Issimo scream that. I looked to my bondmate as he had his blasters pulled out, though of course he had no aim with them and probably didn't even know how to use them…actually he probably didn't even know how to use them.

I struggled to run to Issimo but, as I limped across the desert sand and the other Crassen moved to stop me, I knew I was going to be too late and my spark started to feel pain. Preemptive pain but pain nonetheless. For the first time in all these millions of stellar cycles, in this instance, I finally understood. Even though she hadn't had the chance to bond with him, I knew that they had a special bond, though not physical like mine was with Issimo, she had her spark-mate to be ripped from her in front of her optics and now…I felt that was all I could do.

"Issimo!" I yelled as Sentinel Major charged his lance and rose it to its peak.

My spark stopped when the lance reached its pinnacle. I wouldn't be able to save him! I wouldn't be able to save him! The sound of engine's racing caused me to panic. Here it came, the final blow.

…wait engines?

Just as I fell to the ground from the pain in my leg strut, and Sentinel Major was about to offline Issimo, two cars drove around the rock Issimo was using as support. Both were identically light blue colored with gold and black markings, though one had a little more gold. My optics were drawn to black anchor markings on their trunks and I wondered for a nano-click why they had them.

The nano-click after they appeared, I felt my optics widen as they transformed into two almost identical femmes, the extra gold coloring the only thing I could use to tell them apart. I felt myself staring in relief as the two femmes took black anchors with chains off their backs and ran next to each other. Linking the anchors together, and before Sentinel Major and Pitch realized what was happening, the two femmes charged forward and caught the two Crassen in their chains before vaulting them away from Issimo.

While I was grateful to the femmes for saving Issimo at this moment, I was still on edge. I knew most of the Dragonians that survived the genocide of Dragonia and I felt like I would have at least heard of two femmes with anchors as weapons. They weren't exactly common.

" **Issimo, how are you holding up?"** I sent to my bondmate with hopes that he had calmed down enough to answer.

Thankfully, he had. **"It hurts Issimo. Are these femmes our allies?"**

" **I don't know."** Was my immediate answer.

I then flinched, and I heard blasters charge behind me, as two jets then stopped above the femmes and dropped besides each femme. The taller of the new jet mechs was colored dark red with violet markings and had red optics. He seemed very calm but I noticed anger as he looked at the Crassen behind me. That was a good sign but I kept cautious.

The second new mech was just a little taller than the femmes and had silver plating with orange markings and yellow optics. He seemed to be holding himself back from launching at the Crassen from the shaking I could see and the look that I watched the red mech cast him.

And again, I didn't recognize any of these four and that was weird. If they were allies, then they must be new because odds are, with how the Dragonian army worked, that I would have met at least one of them. But nope. None of them.

I flinched as the red jet mech took the opportunity of their surprise landing to approach me and start to drag both myself and Erlösung away from the middle of the desert and support me while he stood with his comrades. "Don't worry." The mech holding me whispered. "We are allies of you and your bondmate. We mean you no ill will."

Firstly, I was very surprised at the deep baritone tone his voice took. I had never heard a voice as low as his. The closest one was the late General Marquis' friend, Zantor, and even that wasn't quite this low. But secondly, and most importantly, I felt like I could trust them for now. "Very well." But, then what he said fully hit me. "Wait how do you,"

"Who do you think you are?" Sentinel Major interrupted me before I could ask this new mech how he knew that Issimo was my bondmate. "I am Sentinel Major! You have just interfered in the capture of Dragonian enemies; a crime of treason punishable by immediate offlining. They are dangerous monstrous pieces of scarp that need to be eliminated." I noticed the tall blue and red Crassen, and most of the Crassen besides Pitch, looked at Sentinel with a confused look at that and, while that made me curious, I knew that this wasn't the time to be interrogating new Crassen.

"Am I supposed to have heard of you?" I almost laughed when the femme with more gold coloring responded with that. Sentinel Major had an ego larger than the Crassen home world of Cybertron and that had to be a blow to it. "I am Galleon and with my twin sister we are known as the Sea Terror Sisters. But, I don't expect you to have heard of us. Before our rebirth, we were from Ocean Planet and had a reputation."

Wait…before they were reborn?

"I am Drakkar." The mech supporting me answered. Well, at least I had a name to use when I asked him how he knew that Issimo was my bondmate. That still bothered me greatly.

"And I am Cutlass." The silver jet mech finally introduced.

Then, the femme who hadn't introduced herself spoke. "And I am Caravel. According to the mech who gave us our rebirth, we have a duty as reborn Dragonians to protect any Dragonians we come across with our very sparks, no matter the odds."

They were reborn Dragonians! That took a large load off my spark, and slightly explained how Drakkar knew that Issimo and I were bondmates. But, I was now curious. Only high ranked officers could have truly brought a non-Dragonian into the Dragonian family. Others were given temporary status until they came across a high enough officer to perform the rite. Was there more to this group that included a Dragonian I knew or were they converted before the Dragonian officer moved on?

"So, you improve their odds slightly." I flinched as Pitch spoke. "The shrimp by the rock is half offline and the worm your supporting has a major leg injury. So, you would be fighting against us with one to two odds."

"If you surrender we can give your allies medical help." The red and blue Crassen I noticed earlier spoke up with a deep voice, though not even as deep as Zantor but close.

Drakkar then stepped back and started to take me to the rock where Issimo was before Galleon and Caravel started to laugh. "Did you hear that Caravel?" Galleon started. "The Crassen think it has a chance against the four of us!"

Wait…why did she count Drakkar in that?! I was hoping that, since he was moving me back here with Issimo, that he would work on patching us up! "Don't worry, I'm going to patch you two up." Drakkar whispered to me as we reached the rock with Issimo. I was grateful when Drakkar placed me next to Issimo before he moved and immediately started to work on Issimo's leg.

"What are you talking about?" Sentinel demanded in anger. "With that oaf of yours going to work on those two you are now down to three which gives you even less of a chance!" He didn't seem happy at how relaxed these four were taking this.

"Well, if you want to add Drakkar to the list then the odds would be more like one to one point five then which makes it even better odds for us." Galleon laughed the last part.

"One point six." Drakkar corrected her math as he continued to work on Issimo.

Galleon's laughter stopped abruptly.

I heard a laugh come from Cutlass before a clang of metal was heard and he stopped laughing too. "Anyways, I guess it would technically be one on two for us without counting Drakkar." Cutlass pointed out.

Wait…adding what the both just said, that meant that they had another member of their group on the way. Maybe this would be a Dragonian that I knew! If it was that would be such a relief. I hadn't seen another Dragonian besides Issimo since we had escaped from Dragonia and General Comet Gale had directly ordered me to run with Issimo as far away as I could until Dragonian forces could regroup and build our numbers again. Back during the Revolution, I was usually under General Scallion but Comet Gale happened to have me under his temporary command at that point.

"Then before this last Dragonian arrives we will take you all out!" Sentinel Major yelled in anger and I finally turned away to watch the Crassen charge in at the three new Dragonians.

At first, I felt worry. These were my new brother and sisters and yet I couldn't help them when the odds were stacked against them. I felt useless and I didn't like the feeling. But, I would just get in the way if I went out there now, what with my injury and all. Fragging Crassen.

But, to my surprise, the three of them were just standing there. They weren't moving to defend themselves or attack. Just like statues, they stood like they were waiting for some sort of command. "What's going on?" I asked out loud to no bot in particular.

But Drakkar smirked and answered me vaguely. "We are the Buccaneers. In being a Buccaneer, we have to wait for our captain to lead the charge…and as usual he is late." Captain? Okay, now I was completely lost. Drakkar must have seen it because he continued. "Just listen."

And so, I focused on listening. I heard the pounding of the Crassen pedesteps moving closer to Galleon, Caravel, and Cutlass, I heard the bending and mending of metal as Drakkar continue to work on Issimo, I heard the rapid intakes of my own systems as I felt tension about what was going on, I heard the sound…

Of a motor?

Less than a nano-click later, I heard the sound of tires against the rock I was leaning against and a golden car with forest green markings was soon vaulting over me and, as the other three moved to the side, I watched in anticipation and amazement as the golden car started to transform. No…it couldn't be. After all these stellar cycles of being alone was this the first Dragonian that I knew that I was reuniting with?

The golden mech with green markings soon landed in the opening that the other three had made before he pulled out a sword and pointed it at the approaching Crassen.

"With tar on our tires, and energon on our blades, let's fly our skull and crossbones bots, and ruin the Crassen day!" General Scallion of the Dragonian army, and the General that I was under the command of the most, yelled as he led the charge against the Crassens before us.

* * *

 **Dragonian to English: Words and/or phrases from this chapter only that I didn't not translate in text previous chapters or in this chapter. I believe this is all the new stuff that I haven't translated for you all yet. If it isn't, let me know and I'll correct that in the next chapter.**

 **Brysal-Silent**

 **Als ha qisertal vas milsht fozhum har als cayran utlan ipo. Flax, vilase ictarsan traste har uns hask seanic ulp aki xalstam. -** **I am responsible for my family and I failed you all. But, life moves forward and we must focus on the present.**

 **Once-Ler...als harg plasnic ghetel baxtre nix Crassen bixtrea. - Once-Ler...I have evidence that there are Crassen here.**

* * *

 **Kreigan: *Shocked* Mine General. It's Scallion.**

 **Issimo: *excited* Does he have pasta?**

 **Kreigan: *sighs* I don't know.**

 **Authoress: *laughs* Well, if not he is going to have to get some here...hopefully. *runs off***

 **Issimo: *terrified and cries* I surrender! Don't kill me!**

 **Kreigan: *angry* *takes out hammer Erlösung* I WILL KILL YOU AUTHORESS! *chases after her***

 **Issimo: *crying and still begging for life***

* * *

 **AN2: And here is the next exciting chapter! I am loving this story so much right now! Can you guys guess now where I got the inspiration for Kreigan and Issimo? If so leave a comment to me. If not, well then it will be posted next chapter when we finish this fight off. A lot of things happened in this chapter. First of all...Dragonia is destroyed! *cries* I didn't want to do it but I tried to think how a scared council would react to barely winning against a Revolution. They would set an example and destroy the planet. However, most Cybertronians (Crassen) do not know that Dragonia was destroyed and that is why the council made that area of space off-limits. Dragonia's destruction (and the lack of Crassen knowledge of the event) will play an important role in future chapters.**

 **Secondly, we meet two more Dragonians and, while Kreigan is important, it will actually be Issimo that will be a key part in this story along with Marquis. I can't say why but if you would take my advice, I would suggest paying attention to what happens with Issimo when he appears. Sometimes I'll give small clues of information in chapters before big events involving him.**

 **Thirdly, I added more Autobots! All the Autobots I am adding play an important role to key elements in the story later on so, if they do not have a large part to play right now, know that they will later.**

 **Side note, don't worry Decepticon fans, remember that I am a Decepticon fan too and they will have a large role to play in this story and how it unfolds (though they might not show up in large roles for the most part until later chapters). I may add more but that will be determined based on what goes on in the story. Also, the remaining Generals will start to have their own points of view, though sometimes I might not make it clear whose point of view I am actually in. And, these points of views might not happen right away or in the way you would think they come in.**

 **Lastly, next chapter will be having us finish up this confrontation and having more with Marquis...and Sarah being suspicious of this new/old friend named Oliver. But, that's all. Please leave a review, even if it is to say hello. Flames will be given to the Crassen to sleep with. Well, until next chapter (which I hope will be soon) TTYL! *waits for food to get done cooking***


	6. A Friend of a Friend

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Scallion: Those no good Crassen I am going to pound them into scrap...and even that is too good for them.**

 **Authoress: Scallion calm down. You will get your chance.**

 **Issimo: *walks in randomly* Can I get pasta?**

 **Authoress: *tries to resist but falls to turbo-puppy eyes* Fine. It's in the kitchen.**

 **Issimo: *runs off***

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Ch. 6: A Friend of a Friend

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I was so relieved that Kreigan and Issimo were still alive. I had been so worried when I had heard Issimo's vocals on the other side, and that he was being attacked by Sentinel Major no less, I had my worry about what was going to happen. All of us in the higher command knew about the incident that happened between Issimo, Sentinel Major, and a group of other Crassen during the Revolution. Frag, it was General Comet Gale that had looking for the missing Issimo and had found him about to be captured.

I growled as my sword clanged against the blade of the red and blue Crassen. I could tell that, even though Sentinel Major would be a challenge, that it was the tall mech that was General Pandimala's height. That worried me slightly due to me not having kept up on the training that Pandimala and Chaom had put all of us Generals through. If I did meet this other General I would have to ask him to train with me so I could get back up to peak strength. While I didn't feel like this Crassen could beat me, I was having to use more effort than I wanted to beat him back.

"Fragging Crassen can't fight a fair fight." I growled at the red and blue Crassen as I dodged his first swing and countered with a quick one of my own and, unlike his, mine scrapped his shoulder and drew energon.

In return, the red and blue mech stepped back and seemed to look me up and down. "I do not know what you speak of. We are just protecting our comrades."

Comrades? Tch. Crassen didn't have comrades. "Tell your lies to somebot that will believe them. Crassen don't have comrades. Let me tell you what Crassen do. They attack civilian grade bots and torture them, force them to live a horror that they didn't sign up for. Issimo is a civilian grade bot who just so happens to be in a relationship with a warrior. That is as far as it goes. I'm sure if you Crassen had intelligence then you could investigate this world and see that it is possible for a civilian and a soldier to be in a relationship and to keep themselves separate. But, you Crassen don't care about the rights of civilians!" I then charged in and met his sword in a stalemate. I felt my gaze hardened as I looked directly into his blue optics. "All you Crassen care about is putting anything under your pedes that is a challenge to you and your power. Civilians? They don't exist to Crassen. Well, they don't exist in Dragonian society according to Crassen. You torture us just the same."

"You don't know of what you speak." This Crassen I was fighting dared to retort as a defensive light flashed in his optics.

A snarl ripped out of my vocals and I pushed the bot back slightly, catching him off guard and having the advantage in our stalemate but still in the stalemate nevertheless. "I know of what I speak you monster." I hissed as I applied more pressure. "I constantly went through reports of my patrols entering our towns…civilian towns so we could purchase supplies, and finding none online. Energon flowing in rivulets down the streets, the helms of mechs, femmes, younglings, and even sparklings placed on top of pikes with torturous expressions on their faceplates…so don't you dare tell me that I don't know of what I speak!"

The Crassen in front of me seemed surprised by my processor was barely registering it. My own processor flashed an image of one of the times I personally found myself in one of those towns. The scene would forever change my impression of Crassen…and not for the better. It wasn't hopeful to begin with but I had hope that they weren't complete savages. Now, I knew what I was dealing with. Monsters. That was all that they would ever be to me. It would take more than what they could give to change my mind.

What was surprising, though, was that the Crassen I was fighting suddenly backed off and looked around, which caused me to automatically respond in the same, and I must say that I felt pride well up inside me as the twins and Scallion were holding back seven Crassen while Drakkar seemed to be finishing up his work on Issimo. I was relieved that Issimo was looking better, though I had no doubt that he would need an energon transfusion once we got them transported back to the warehouse.

I didn't let my optics leave the Crassen I was supposed to be fighting for long but, when I returned my optics to him, I was surprised when I saw that he had back away from bot me and the group at the rock even further. "Autobots, we are returning to base immediately."

Shock filled my systems at the confused look that was on the Crassen's faceplate. What was going on? This wasn't normal Crassen behavior. Just who was this Crassen? Something in the back of my processor told me that I should know him but I wasn't coming up with an answer right now.

In response to his order though, I felt like I should order off my troops. "Fall back and stay ready." I ordered the three.

They glanced at me in confusion but nodded and broke off their fights before moving position to defend Issimo, Kreigan, and Drakkar if necessary. But, I was somewhat decent at reading a mood and, while I'm not sure what did it, something I said threw this Crassen off. I would be a fool for wanting to continue attacking them when they were backing down. We weren't like the Crassen were. If they wanted to retreat, then we would give them that ability.

"What do you think you are doing Prime?" Sentinel yelled as he marched up to the bot that I had been fighting.

Wait…Prime? No way! Was this possibly the leader of the Autobot Crassen that I heard replaced Sentinel after the Decepticon Crassen Megatron killed him? He seemed so…young. If my estimation was right, then he was around the same age as General Pandimala. That was practically unheard of for the Crassen.

However, even though I was loathe to admit it, I was impressed with the sharp look that the Crassen that Sentinel addressed as the Prime gave Sentinel Major. "We are unprepared for this confrontation and, I believe that the Dragonians will agree to allow us to return to base peacefully as long as they are allowed to retreat to wherever they are located?" He then looked to me.

I saw the value in this but I was cautious. "How can I believe that you will keep your word? What's to stop you from opening up another of those ground bridges behind our exposed backs?" I was not going to risk trusting a Crassen without collateral. Us Dragonians had tried that and it had cost us our planet.

Instead of looking trapped, this Prime continued to surprise me. "You bring up a valid argument, though an unnecessary one. However, I shall oblige you. We cannot have two ground bridges activated at once. So, you choose a location to have us open one and we will keep it open there for ten clicks. Is that ample time for you to fall back?"

This Crassen was impressive and I hated to admit it. Also, I knew enough about ground bridge technology to know that he spoke the truth. One ground bridge base could only open one ground bridge at a time. Plus, with the spacing you had to have between ground bridges they probably couldn't have a second one at their base. Also, with energon reserves at record lows due to this Civil War of theirs, they wouldn't waste the energon in holding up one ground bridge and opening up another even if they had ground bridges further apart. I felt like this was an agreement that I could begrudgingly agree with.

"Very well." I answered before I thought of a set of coordinates that would probably kill the Crassen if they tried to go through it. I rattled off the numbers to the Prime before saying, "Those coordinates will take you to the highest peak on this planet. So, I would not recommend going through unless you want to offline."

I then moved back slowly, my optics keeping track of the Crassen as they moved toward their leader. "Optimus you can't be serious." The blue motorcycle said. "They attacked us!"

A growl came out of my lips but I didn't want the fighting to start back up so I held my glossa. Issimo needed medical attention and he needed that transfusion soon so he could keep the leg that Drakkar repaired. But, I was glad that she let slip his name. Now that she said it, I remembered a small note about the Crassen getting a new Prime whose name was Optimus. At the very least I could say that he was acting better than his predecessor.

"Arcee." Optimus started. "We only saw a confrontation already unfolding. I believe that we should return to base and investigate these Dragonians further before any rash judgements are made." So, the blue femme was Arcee. I was going to have to start files on these Crassen so I could keep an optic on them. He then faced me. "General Scallion, we will do as you have asked for now. Remember this."

With a stern look at the Crassen, I nodded and finally rejoined my troops. Not long after a ground bridge appeared behind the Crassen and, once I watched every single one of the eight walk through and the bridge close, I looked to the twins. "Galleon, Caravel; can you two track any energy spikes around Mt. Everest?"

It took a few clicks but, eventually, they nodded. "Yeah, the amount of energy up there means that they have to have their bridge there. They told the truth."

"He told the truth…for now." I corrected her. While this might have been a surprise, and a nice one for a change, I wasn't ready to suddenly fully trust Crassen again. No. We had been hurt too severely for that. Walking over to Issimo, whose leg was now fixed, I sighed, "How are you Issimo?"

In regular Issimo fashion, he smiled widely up at me. "I'm better Scallion! You all showed up and kicked their afts!" He then let out a typical Issimo laugh.

Kreigan, whose own injury was about fixed up by Kreigan, sighed. "I must say that I am relieved that you showed up General Scallion. But, how did you find us in the first place?"

While I wanted to answer Kreigan, I knew that answering out here wasn't the wisest move. "Not now Kreigan. First, we need to get back to that warehouse. If the Crassen keep to their word, then we have less than ten clicks to clear out the area. But, I'm not going to trust them. We need to leave as soon as you are done."

Kreigan nodded slowly and, after another couple of minutes, Drakkar finished working on his leg. He then transformed before saying, "Help Issimo on my back. With how low his energon levels are I do not want him transforming."

"But that isn't fun." Issimo whined as Drakkar helped him.

"Issimo." Kreigan started. I laughed at the guilty look Issimo was giving as he was in Drakkar's arms, who was moving to put him on Kreigan's back. "If you don't get on my back, then I am going to make sure that you don't get any pasta for the rest of the solar cycle." Pasta? What was the big deal about pasta and why should it matter to Issimo?

"NO!" I flinched as Issimo suddenly started to struggle in Drakkar's arms and landed full force onto Kreigan's back and held on like his life depended on it. What? "Don't take my pasta away from me! I need my pasta!"

Seriously? This was about the pasta? I had no idea what was going on but since it caused Issimo to cooperate with Kreigan then we could get on our way. "We'll talk later. Drakkar and Cutlass, make sure that they get to the warehouse and Drakkar, give Issimo that transfusion. Issimo, while he is doing that, you can come in soliform to my bar." I then sent the motorcycle mech the coordinates before I turned to Kreigan and sent them to him. Once that was done, I transformed, and my comrades followed me, before saying, "Let's all meet up at the bar and then we can get introductions out of the way."

"Sounds like a plan." Kreigan responded, before the others gave their own positive responses.

Once the jet's took off, I started my engine and drove next to the twins on our return to Jasper. I couldn't believe this. While I had been looking for a Dragonian General, finding Kreigan and Issimo was just as exciting. Earth had been the most back-water planet that supported life that I could find that was far away from Cybertron and the Crassen. Had other Dragonians had the same idea and come to this little marble? With the reveal of Kreigan and Issimo being here that seemed like it was a high possibility. That would be a relief especially with the revelation that there were at least 8 fighting class Crassen here on this planet. There could be more.

The town of Jasper coming into sights caused me to shake myself out of my thoughts as I sped up. Once Issimo was on the mend and I exchanged information with Kreigan and Issimo, I had to renew my search for the General that was in this small town. I had to get a hold of him. That was why we were scanning the frequency in the first place, though now that this happened I was going to have regular shifts at the scanner. If there were any more Dragonians on this planet, and they needed help, I wanted to be there.

And speaking of being there, we were going to have to set up a ground bridge. Even though the twins had been the best to pick up on human tech, Cutlass was actually a genius when it came to our technology…especially ground bridge technology. Though there were certain times, namely getting mad at a teenage girl for spilling his rum, that he made himself seem like an idiot. But, I had watched him work wonders. The only reason that I hadn't asked him to make a ground bridge before I was going to was because we didn't need one. We didn't travel around in our bot forms outside of driving or short flying distance plus with the improvements that we made to our soliforms we weren't dependent on energon mines…though they were nice to have.

When we pulled up to the bar, I got out and looked at my car before realizing I was going to need an excuse for all the bang marks on my beautiful chassis. "Just use that you were driving in the desert and there were more rocks then you were expecting out here." I didn't bother to turn as I heard the twins walk up on either side of me. Galleon, who had spoke, turned to me before saying, "We use it after we go racing when you want us to do patrols."

A smirk came on my face but I didn't look at either of them before I walked inside the bar. The wind was small but it moved the sign that I placed above the front three steps going into the bar. That sign, I guess subconsciously I always hoped to find other Dragonians and that sign was the symbol of both of the dearest parts of my existence; my Dragonian life and my pirate life.

"Well, let's get inside." I said to the girls. "Our guests should be appearing in soliform soon and we must welcome them aboard our ship." As we walked inside, and once the door was closed, I gave pause before I remembered something that Issimo said, "Oh, and you two are the best cooks between us all. Could you wrangle up some pasta for our Italian guest?"

Caravel smiled and nodded. "For that cute little thing. You bet I can."

I shook my head as she started to walk to the kitchen and decided to warn her. "I know you see him as a cute little thing to dress up Caravel but you had better explain to our German friend that it is just that or he'll come after you. He's very protective of the Italian and also kinda…clingy." I couldn't say their actual names since we were returned to Jasper. I needed to learn their soliform names before I started to speak.

If I suspected that she was the least bit worried, it didn't show on her face. Caravel laughed and disappeared behind the kitchen doors. Galleon took her place behind the bar and started to clean cups. Even with the surprise of our guests, we did have a bar to run. Until the order came up that the Revolution was a go…if it ever did, then I had to keep up my disguise on this planet and keep up this bar. Of course, I had a feeling that I was going to be digging into my pocket to keep up the bar here. But, I didn't think that, at least for this life, that there would be another job occupation for me. Of course, if this turned out to be a dead end, I could always fling my soliform off of a cliff. The outskirts of this town had plenty of them. Plus, I could leave a marvelous suicide note with the struggles the bar was going to face in this mainly underage town.

A smile touched my face when I heard the sound of Caravel humming and the smell of cooking pasta wafting through the air. I couldn't have asked for a better team. We worked well and we knew what the others needed. As strange as it was, Galleon and Caravel were both scared of cats. They were fine with lions, and tigers, and bobcats but Primus help you if you brought a house cat in.

Drakkar had a habit of making knick knacks when he was bored or stressed. There were plenty of his small creations around the bar and he took great pride in them. The first one he gave me I made sure to put in my sub space. It was a small dragon made out of silver wrapped around a globe. It was touching because he used my descriptions of Dragonia and the landscape to make a mock globe of what Dragonia used to look like. I planned on sharing it with the General here if I could find him.

Then…there was Cutlass. That bot had a way of getting under my plating when we first met and I honestly wanted to strangle him. But, after his little attempted coup he mellowed out a great deal and I learned how smart he actually was. He showed me this by improving my soliform program to judge the pain level of an injury afflicted to me. It helped when I fought in both World Wars. I was able to avoid Korea and Vietnam by dying and being reborn in France.

I smiled as memories of France filled my helm. It wasn't so much what I saw there, though that was good too, but it was their accent. It was almost spot on to Marquis and it had taken me back to all those memories spent with my offline friend. At one point, I had even met a man named Alexander Gilbert Washington who I could have sworn was Marquis if it wasn't for the fact that I knew that Marquis was offline. The man was actually visiting from America with his college history class and was a joy to listen to.

"I smell pasta!"

Issimo's voice cheering from the upstairs room where Cutlass probably told them to appear in cut into my thoughts. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I heard a clatter of footsteps and Cutlass' soliform was followed by a tall muscular blonde man with blue eyes. He was wearing a dark green uniform but there weren't any symbols on it. It made me curious but I could ask him about that later. The next soliform to come down, now he was adorable. He was probably five foot five and he had longer auburn hair with one piece curled on the side. I had a feeling that it was important to him to have it.

Also, I had no doubt in my mind just who they were. Walking up to the muscular man, I held out my hand. "Welcome to the Dragon Keep Bar. I am glad you could come. May I have your names?" This was all just a pretense in case there was someone listening. I didn't want to give away that we were really soliforms…especially with the revelation that there were Crassen here. So, false names unless we were in the room that they came in.

Thankfully, our new guests soon to be workers understood this. "I am glad that you have hired my partner and I on such little information. We have been traveling around the country and have found ourselves low on money. When we saw your advertisement, we saw a chance to make some money." The blonde man said in a German accent before holding out his hand. "As a formality, mine name is Franz Schmidt."

"It's a funny name." The Italian man laughed at his partner before pointing to himself. "My name is Luciano Ricci. You do cook pasta right? Right?"

Okay, Issimo was way to addicted to pasta. Thankfully, before he could get at me and beat the pasta out of me…if that were possible, the doors to the kitchen opened and out walked Caravel with a bowl of spaghetti with plenty of tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. "I think I heard a little cutie out here asking for spaghetti." Caravel smiled as she placed the bowl in front of an empty seat on the bar before taking the seat next to it.

Issimo was practically led by his nose to the seat and he started to eat. Once he had a second to breathe, he turned to Caravel with a large smile plastered on his face. "This a pasta is delicious! What is your name signorina?"

Caravel smiled and pinched his cheeks. "Aren't you adorable." She then motioned to herself. "I am Charlotte Bellamy and my twin behind the bar is Jane Bellamy. The man that you came downstairs with is Henry McCallister and our boss standing by your strapping partner Franz there is Barbossa McFain."

I noticed a hint of clingy protectiveness flash in Kreigan's optics until Caravel slipped my name. At which, he tried to hold back a smile but that just caused him to burst out in laughter. I frowned at the reaction. My name this time wasn't that great true, but it wasn't that funny. "Bar…Barbossa?" Kreigan let out with a laugh. "Wasn't that the name of the pirate for Pirates of the Caribbean?" Everyone in the bar, which was everyone but Drakkar who was still working on Issimo's actual chassis, was now laughing full force.

With a sigh, I shook my head. "Very well, laugh at my name if you want. But, once Horatio returns, there are many questions that I need answered."

Even though I didn't want it too, the room grew quiet. "Ya." Kreigan agreed. "And I need to ask you something right now." I payed attention as he went and sat by Issimo. "While I am very grateful that you all arrived to save Luciano and I, how did you know where to find us?"

The sound of footsteps suddenly moving above us told me that Drakkar had returned. I was proven correct as Drakkar's soliform made his way down the stairs. "I am called Horatio Booth," the deep voiced soliform started, "and if we are to be perfectly honest, we were not expecting to pick up your SOS. That just came as a side effect of what we were trying to accomplish."

Issimo and Kreigan looked to each other before they looked back to us. "If you weren't looking for Dragonian's to help, what were you looking for?"

I took glances at each of my Buccaneers before I looked to my two friends. "We were looking for a Dragonian, but a specific Dragonian." At the confused looks that came onto their faces, I elaborated. "A couple solar cycles ago, we lived in Carson City. On that day, a teacher with a French accent and three of his students ducked into our bar there in a seeming panic. One student caused Henry to spill his drink and Henry got a little grumpy. As a good teacher should, this teacher diverted Henry's anger at him and the two got into a…scuffle."

A short laugh came from Galleon. "More like the teacher kicked his aft and Henry was completely unprepared for it."

Scallion shot Galleon a look but I took over before anything could happen there. "Anyways, I wasn't downstairs at the time so after the teacher left these four came up the stairs and, after some words, I watched the footage. However, at the end the teacher spoke some things to Henry. The first thing he said was a warning to not fight when someone said not to. But, it was what he spoke next that caused me to move us to this small town where the bar is not going to do much business."

"What did he say?" Issimo asked as he continued to eat the pasta.

"He spoke Dragonian." That caused both to pause but, as surprising as the information was it got more intense. "Not only that, but us Generals had select phrases in our native language that we were to use if we were ever separated and in disguise. That teacher used one. We tracked him down to this town and his soliform name is George Alexander Lafayette. There is a Dragonian General in this town."

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

This…this couldn't get any more awkward. Sarah had arrived ten minutes late, so Once-Ler and I had the food already prepared. But, when she walked in, I could see the alert signs in her eyes as she looked at Once-Ler, who thankfully listened to my advice and traded in the double axe electric guitar to a single one. Sill made a statement but it wasn't as obnoxious. Since he was going to be living with me now I had to keep up some appearances. Primus only knew how hard it was going to be explaining why I suddenly had a man that no one had even heard me talk about before living in my house.

Now, I was getting my first glimpse of what was to come. Sarah was giving him the teacher stare but, to his credit, Once wasn't completely a puddle of nerves right now. Oh, he was nervous and there was no denying that…Sarah had a stare that could give Jabberwocky and Chorale a run for their credits, but he wasn't whimpering on the ground like most did under that stare. Of course, given that he had stares from both thought femmes plus from Pandimala probably helped train his psyche to brace for it.

"So, how did you two meet?" Sarah finally spoke after we had sat in slice for over five minutes.

Clearing my throat, I motioned to Once. "Remember that history convention I went to in San Francisco a few years back?"

She nodded slowly and I was so thankful that I had decided to go to that. I realized now that it was going to be the perfect alibi in case I ran into any more Dragonians and they had to stay here. "Yes, I was going to go but I was asked to help with a local women's project and couldn't go." I was relieved to see some of the mistrust leave her eyes.

But, I had to make this story stick. Since Once-Ler was an expert with music, given his Thneed and what it could do, I realized in an instant how I was going to pull this off. "Oliver here was there for their seminars on music through the ages and we ended up sitting next to each other through…" My mind went blank and I felt myself twinge slightly in panic. This couldn't be good no matter what. I couldn't think of a seminar that we could have met.

"George, it was the Bards of the Feudal Germanic Lords." Oliver spoke smoothly. That man, I swear he had a silver tongue. I even believed it happened for a half a click.

I nodded softly. "You are right. I was studying feudal lords and thought it would be an interesting subject to broaden my knowledge on." I then turned to Sarah and brought this conversation back to the present. "Oliver here showed up the other day and said that he had looked me up. He got laid off as an assistant music teacher a few weeks ago from Tallahassee," As I spoke I had my soliform create the necessary documents that showed it. "but the school let him go quietly and didn't want there to be a fuss so they paid passage for him to leave the state. The school had budget cuts but it didn't want their patrons to know it."

Oliver took over. "Yes. Thankfully, I remembered meeting George and tried to contact him in Montana. But, the staff there said that both him and one of his colleagues got jobs here in Jasper. But, they didn't have any contact information. So, I took a leap of faith and got here as quickly as possible. Thankfully, I found George today and he offered to let me stay here while I look for work." He then let out a laugh. Thankfully, he elaborated. "Honestly, I would love to have any sort of job no matter what it was. Even though I'm not feeling guilty now, I will start to feel guilty for living here for free in a week or two."

Thankfully, Sarah let out a laugh. That was a relief. Even though I wasn't showing it, I was more nervous than I was before the Inquisition. And that was a pretty nerve wracking time. But, when she stopped laughing, I got really nervous again. "What is your experience with music?" What was she getting at now? Sarah had a way of digging until she go the answer she was looking for.

"I got my teaching license in instrumental and vocal music." Oliver answered without hesitation but I could see that he was nervous. Hopefully, Sarah didn't see that nervousness or maybe interpreted it as tension for what she was getting at.

I had to hold back a sigh of relief when Sarah smiled. "Here on Monday I was planning on having my students study some classical works but I know that they won't enjoy it. Maybe having an assistant teacher who obviously has some music ability would help the lesson go by easier?"

She was just offering him a job for the day. That was more of a relief than I realized it would be. So far this charade that I was going to have to play was holding up. That relieved me because I normally couldn't pull off a lie to Sarah to save my skin…once or twice that had been literal. But, this was one lie that I needed to pull through.

But, that didn't make it easier. As I watched Sarah and Oliver laugh with each other, after he agreed to help, I realized that I already felt guilt well up inside of me. I didn't like lying to Sarah unless absolutely necessary and I felt like I was betraying her when I was. It wasn't right. Maybe with other Dragonians coming here, I would be able to tell Sarah about me. But, that would have to wait a bit longer. I wanted to see my Selanitra again before I say anything to Sarah. But, once I met with Pandimala again, then the lies would end to Sarah. Never again would I lie to her.

 **No One's P.O.V.**

Darkness covered the city of Jasper as night fell. A few houses were lit with the business of late guests but none paid attention to the outside as a lone sky blue and salmon pink sports car drove down the main street. It's lights were dimmed and it seemed like it was on a mission.

Once the car made it to the city hall, a tall limber man stepped out wearing sky blue pants, salmon pink dress shoes, long sleeved sky blue shirt with a salmon pink vest over that, and a sky blue ruffled ascot. This man was paled skinned and had sky blue hair with salmon streaks through it.

This was part of his mission. He didn't need to be seen yet so he chose a time where he would not be seen. Walking up to the wall of the city hall and unrolled a flyer before sticking it to the wall. He did this to many more buildings in town and left stacks of pamphlets in front of the doors of local places before he returned to his car.

As the tail-lights faded into the desert night, one flyer came loose and fell to the ground. On it showed many athletic people in brightly colored spandex costumes. The man who just drove away was imaged in the center of a ring and was motioning up toward the name of the spectacular. However, the flyer covered the name of the spectacular before it could be read.

* * *

 **Marquis: *looks at part he is able* My part seems to be shrinking Authoress. I do not like this.**

 **Authoress: *sighs* I know but it will pick up next chapter. The part I wrote before yours was important to finish for what is coming up.**

 **Once-Ler: *laughs* I don't care. That Sarah lady sure has you whipped Marquis.**

 **Marquis: *glares because can't argue* Just remeber that you are going to be helping her class out coming up here.**

 **Once-Ler: *freezes as remembers agreement*Well scrap.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter of Reawakened Revolution! I hope you all enjoyed. It has been a few chapters since I reminded you all of this but this story has a prequel called The Dragonian Revolution. If some characters that I don't describe here throw you for a loop you will probably find your answers there...and if not then shoot me a P.M.**

 **And speaking about information, I will now tell you all where I got the inspiration for Issimo and Kreigan...I based them off of Italy and Germany from Hetalia! They are two of my favorite characters from the show and they helped me fill in some holes that I had for this story.**

 **But I brought in a new surprise. What is going on in that flyer and what does that bring to this table? It feels like the board is being set for an amazing situation! I can't wait for it. =)**

 **Next chapter is going to be bringing us our first interaction with the Decepticons...but maybe not in a way that you think. XD Hope to see you all next chapter and I hope you contact me if you have any questions or just want to talk. I'm social when I can. Well, until next chapter, please drop and leave a review, even to say hi! Until then, TTYL! *tries to make pasta...and fails***


	7. Is It Simply a Race?

**Disclaimer: I Only Own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Marquis: Well, does this mean I get to race?**

 **Authoress: *sighs* Yes, you get to race. But, there are some other things that are being hinted at in this chapter.**

 **Once-Ler: Like what?**

 **Authoress: *smirks* You'll see.**

 **Marquis and Once-Ler: That's not good.**

* * *

Ch. 7: Is It Simply a Race?

 **George's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I had to hold myself back from laughing so hard my soliform would give out…and that wasn't an easy thing to do given my thousands of years of experience keeping a soliform under suspicion from humans.

It was currently my free period and I was in the teacher's lounge where I was currently watching the security feed from Sarah's music room. It was sixth period, which was right after lunch, and her music students looked like they were about to kill her. Even though the security cameras didn't have audio for my end, I could see that her students looked like they were half dead with the music lesson.

Well, I wouldn't be if I was in her class. I loved classical music and the history behind it was amazing. I still remember meeting Bach and Mozart. Those were very interesting men. Their music was even more beautiful when they played it. Thankfully, I had recorded every single performance that I went to of all the performers that I had interacted with and I planned to share that with Sarah one solar cycle.

Movement on the screen caused me to look to Oliver as he stood up and moved to the front of the class, a violin in his hands. What was he doing? I wanted to go down to the classroom to listen to whatever it was that Oliver was planning to do, and even started to stand to do so, when Ms. Bouchard walked in and shut the door with a worried look on her face.

Like myself in this life, she had ancestry that originated from France, and hers more recent then my own. I looked to her as a sort of kins-woman…for this human life. She taught art here and, normally, she was a very happy woman. In my year here so far I hadn't seen her upset. That was, however, until now.

"Etoile what is the matter?" I ask her using her first name. She was looking very distraught and I wasn't sure why. She turned to me with her brown eyes looking worried before she sat down. That meant that she wanted to talk.

I had to watch time because, while I had another break for the next period, I had to prepare some pop quizzes for my last period class…which happened to be Ms. Nakadai's class. To be honest, this was a part of my plan to force the Crassen here on Earth to show their servos. I had a feeling that the kids were in close contact with the Crassen, much to my own dismay, and so their stress would be put on the Crassen they were in contact with.

Etoile motioned to the door to the hallway before she started to speak. "George, I'm worried. My students had a quiz today and, being nice, I decided to give them all a study hall once everyone had finished. But, during the study hall, I was grading their assignments when a couple of boys asked to go to get something from the weight room. I said that was fine and they took their stuff with them when they went. I figured that they might want to drop off their things at their locker since it is a study hall. But, they haven't come back yet and…well, since I am a woman…I'm not really supposed to go to the men's locker room."

I was slightly worried as well but I put on a reassuring smile before nodding. "It isn't a problem Etoile. I'll check on them for you. Which boys are they?"

She sighed in relief. "Thank you so much George. It's Vince LeClair and Tolax Valkeri." I then stood to leave and, once I was out of the room, I let my thoughts flow.

What was going on with Tolax? While this kind of behavior was normal for Vince, which was something I wanted to talk to him about, it wasn't usual for Tolax to be included in this. Honestly, he was the reason that I didn't peg Vince as the bully that he usually acted as. Tolax seemed to have an addiction to the color plum and would wear a plum cowboy hat and a plum shirt to school with his light blue jeans and black cowboy boots. He was also very…happy. He was carefree and did great in all his classes.

Vince LeClair, on the other hand, wasn't that at all. He wore a simple white t-shirt with a faded forest green colored jacket over it along with faded blue jeans and tan work boots. With his natural orange hair and green eyes, you would think that he was the center of bullying. Well, he was but not on the side that I expected. He was known to most as the school bully and, honestly, that was how he came off to me. But, I didn't know him that well yet to give him a stereotype standing. He usually either skipped classes or payed just enough attention in the classes to pass with high enough grades to play football.

However, despite these differences, the two of them seemed to be friends and Tolax honestly didn't seem like the kind of guy that Vince would be friends with. So, while I wanted to go with what I saw and heard and proclaim Vince as the bully, I held back due to something more being in play here.

It didn't take me long to sneak to the doorway of the boy's locker room. But, before I could enter, I heard Vince's voice travelling in the air. "Tolax, I have to." This was strange. I had never heard Vince sound so…desperate? Yeah, that was the only word I could think of to describe the situation here. While I wanted to see just what was going on I held myself back. The full story isn't heard by barging in and seeing what is going on.

A sigh of annoyance came from Tolax. "Vince, I'm sick of you going out to those damned street races. You're going to get hurt at one of these. You even told me that at one you got taken by a group of punks and Darby… _Darby_ had to bail you out. I mean, if that asshole has to pull you out then something is seriously wrong."

My head was just spinning in circles and, while I really should be worried that one of my students was participating in what sounded like illegal street racing, the only thing my brain would allow me to think about was the anger that Tolax used in saying Jack Darby's last name. In my mind, Jackson and Tolax should make the perfect equation for friends. They weren't like your typical high school students and, yet, they both avoided each other like the Black Death…and I should know what that was like. I lost ten soliforms to that damned plague.

…Getting back to the matter at hand.

"Tolax, you know that I have to. Dad bailed out on my mom, sister, and I when my sis and I were little and mom's been in the hospital over a year. Between school, football, and taking care of the farm, racing is the only thing I can do to get enough money to pay the bills." Vince argued with Tolax.

That's right. I had been so focused on just getting by that I forgot that Vince had a sister named Kestral. She usually spent time with Sierra. Actually, I never saw the two girls apart much. I swear high school wasn't this difficult to keep up with the last time I attended as a student with Sarah.

"I know man." Tolax started. "But, besides Sierra and Kestral, you are the only friend I have here. On that note you're the only dude that takes me the least bit seriously about almost anything." Tolax then seemed to hesitate in his voice. "At…at least let me ride shotgun when you race from now on. Please?"

This was turning into a hodgepodge of events and I was finding it difficult to keep track of everything. I thought that Tolax was trying to talk him out of going to the races period? Was he really giving up that easily?

This time, the defeated sigh came from Vince. "Fine man whatever. There's one tonight outside of town by Rocky Stone Bluffs. But, if you get sick on my seats,"

"Yeah you'll plunge a screwdriver into my ear." Tolax finished.

I of course flinched at that. While it hadn't been a screwdriver, I had been killed in a similar fashion back in two thousand BC. Those were some very unhappy soldiers. It wasn't my fault that they didn't appreciate my cooking.

…It really wasn't.

While I should just march in there and turn them both in, I sympathized with Vince…if he was telling the truth. I would check his file once I got these boys back to their impromptu study hall. I knew the struggles of trying to keep yourself and those you cared about safe and taken care of. He was doing it for his sister, plus trying to keep their home, and he was struggling with classes and his football goals as well. That was a lot for one boy to have on his plate. No, he wasn't a boy. This was a man's work and, while I didn't approve of the way he was earning the money, I understood why he did.

So, I would just enter this race myself to confront Vince and Tolax. I could think of better ways for Vince to get payed and, while I wouldn't make him stop the racing unless it was extremely dangerous, I would help take the pressure off him so he didn't feel like they were completely necessary.

But, for now I had to get the boys. Silently making my way back to the beginning of the hallway, I started again toward the locker room but this time I whistled a little marching tune to myself. It didn't surprise me that, when I got to the locker room, that both boys were coming out with fake smiles plastered on their faces. They must do this often. But, Etoile would have been one of the few to tell me about them being gone too long.

"Boys, Ms. Bouchard was worried that you were taking too long. Let's get back there." I told them as they stared at me.

Both boys nodded and the three of us started to walk toward Etoile's classroom. There was silence between the three of us and, like my Selanitra, I didn't like silence. So, I figured I would give these boys a little heads up about my pop quiz, since they were in the class with Ms. Nakadai and Kestral. "You might want to make a stop at your lockers and get your history books. I can't say for certain, but I heard that your history teacher is going to be giving you a pop quiz to test you on last week's work."

I saw both of their eyes twitch as they widened in shock. Yeah, that was not going to go well. The two boys quickly ran to their respective lockers and dragged out their history books before the ran into Etoile's room. Once the door closed, I sighed in relief before making my way toward my classroom. My students were not going to be happy about this but it would be worth it to make any sort of blow against the Crassen scum that were on Earth. No offense to my students, but they would only be alive, at most, one hundred stellar cycles total. Crassen could be alive for trillions of stellar cycles before they bit the rust naturally.

Soon, I arrived at my classroom and quickly walked inside before shutting the door. Almost immediately after that, the bell rang for the students to switch periods. Thankfully, I didn't have to teach a class now so I could figure out what I was going to do about Vince. At the very least, as a teacher I had to make sure that he would be safe at these races.

…Well, as safe as he could be.

I took out piece of paper and took out my pen before writing the questions for my pop quiz. Sarah would get so mad at me that my hand naturally wrote with a calligraphy like style. It was most closely related to gothic black letter writing styling. She said that it wasn't fair that a guy would have better handwriting then most women. But, she let it go when I would write her letters for her.

Last week we, of course, were working on the American Revolution and, unfortunately, I felt a sting of emotional pain travel through me as thoughts of the similarities between the human revolution and our own clashed with the radically different outcomes. That pain was even greater now that I had met up with Once-Ler and he had told me the news about Dragonia's destruction.

For my next life, and from now on, I was not going to be a teacher for my disguise. The pain that I went through having to discuss the American Revolution in detail was just too much for me to handle now. Honestly, I was sure it was the combination of the Crassen being here on Earth and the news I had recently received from Once-Ler saying that the Crassen, in all the evil actions, had destroyed our home world of Dragonia and the millions of lives that I was sure hadn't been able to escape. With both of those pressures on me, I was sure that I could no longer teach American History after this…or even teach for that matter. I would try on the last point for a little. Maybe some medieval history would be best? America wasn't even in existence at that point.

Since I had a feeling that Once-Ler would be staying with me from now on, I would ask if he would like to maybe start a band once we got through high school education again. Hey, for all we knew, we would one day be famous and then get killed in some over the top way? I was now very excited for this life to be over with already but, unfortunately, I knew that this life was a long way off from being finished.

Once I finished writing what questions I would ask on the quiz, I sighed and put my calligraphy pen down before leaning back and thinking back on Vince. I knew I wanted to look at his records but, with it already being five minutes before the bell rang, I wouldn't be able to get to the office and look at them before getting back to class in time to give this 'pop' quiz. So, for the first time in at least thirty stellar cycles…years, I cheated. Putting my mind out of focus, I used my chassis' hacking capabilities and snuck behind the school's firewalls with ease. Once I was in, I looked for the file on Vince and, thankfully, it wasn't that hard to find. It was one of the biggest in the file so that helped a lot.

Reading through the file, I found that what I overheard the boys saying in the locker room was true. Vince was struggling both in school and at home with bills. His mom had been hospitalized before I got here and he had been helping support his family, and keeping their farm, ever since. As his teacher, I wanted to help him and I thought about what I could do to offer Vince a job. I couldn't pull off a student aid since his grades were so low. If there was something else I would…

A thought bounced into my working mind and I smiled as I remembered the store house I had constructed from an old military silo outside of town to the west. There were more memorabilia from my time on Earth in that store house then I could count and none of it was organized. Once I had a chance to talk with Vince alone, I would offer that he categorize my collection as a job so he wouldn't feel so dependent on street racing. I knew I couldn't stop him, because he was doing it illegally anyways he wouldn't listen when I told him to stop, but this might help ease both my own and Tolax's fear of him getting seriously hurt. From what I heard, Jackson Darby had to help Vince out of a jam once during a race.

And that thought reminded me of Tolax's angry tone when he talked about Jack Darby. I still couldn't believe the anger I heard in his voice and I decided to find out why that was. So, I removed my processor from Vince's file, after saving a copy for later personal use, and dug through the electronic records until I found Tolax Valkeri's. It was nowhere near the size of Vince's but there was more in there then I thought there would be. His parents were gone ten months of the year for work so Tolax raised himself much like Vince. But, Tolax's parents sent him a good deal of money and covered all the bills. Tolax, by the looks of it, just had to worry about what to buy for food so he wouldn't starve.

After flipping through a few sub-folders, I finally found something that peeked my interest. It was a file from what would have been their sixth-grade year. A lot of the file was blacked out but from what I could read something happened at a cave outside of town at the end of that year and, after that point, Tolax's file showed that his only fist fights, which weren't many in the first place, were with Jackson. I also noted that Etoile had been their teacher.

The sound of a bell brought me out of my zoned-out state and I realized that I had to return to full focus soon. So, I downloaded Tolax's file for later use before I removed my processor from the system and paid attention to what was in front of me. I could read the rest of it later. But, since there was a part that was redacted, I was going to see if Etoile would help me out on filling in the blanks since she happened to be there teacher at the time before she moved up to the high school four years ago.

My door opening caused me to fully focus and I smiled an innocent smile as my students started to walk in. Many of them were talking in hushed whispers and holding on to strange flyers that told of a circus coming to town. When I had gotten up this morning, I was surprised when I saw the flyers all over the town. This circus sure had a way of letting everyone know that they were going to be coming. But, I hadn't bothered to pick one up but I had overheard Sarah and Once-Ler discussing it during lunch. It was a circus called Circus Cirkus. It was a strange name that seemed familiar but I wasn't going to think much on it.

Once the bell rang again, and Miss Nakadai barely made it through the door on time, I rose from my seat and shut the door before glancing around. With a visual confirmation that everyone was here, I couldn't stop a smile from gracing my face. "Good afternoon students. I hope you had a very relaxing weekend." I saw some nods in the crowd but knew that was going to change in a moment.

"What did you do Frenchy?" Clair Keller asked me with what sounded like honest curiosity in her voice.

Allowing my smile to grow slightly, I picked up a pile of blank papers before saying, "Well, with everything that happened, and our extended weekend, I realized that even I couldn't remember what we had been working on for the past week. So, I sat down and did some studying."

"Seriously teach? That's all you did?" Miko asked as I started to place the blank papers at each of their desks.

Once they were all passed out, I returned to standing behind the podium in my room, which was next to my desk before I nodded. "Yes, and I hope you did too because it is pop quiz time. Please clear off your desks." I then picked up my question paper.

The entire class groaned in dismay before clearing off their desks, pulling out whatever writing utensils they could, and prepared for my first question. They did not look happy about this, and that especially went for miss Nakadai. That was good for my plans of destroying whatever Crassen she knew. They would pay dearly for what they did to my home world…to Dragonia.

 **Kreigan's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

While I would admit that events seemed to be moving very quickly lately, I wasn't going to say I was upset about them. A few days ago, Issimo and I had traveled to Nevada to investigate an energy signal that we had picked up that was, at the very least, originated from a child of Primus. But, from the looks of how events had played out, the energy signal we detected most likely came from the Crassen that had almost offlined Issimo and myself.

And I was thanking each and every lucky star that I had that General Scallion had been able to pick up Issimo's distress signal and save the two of us. It had been a long time since I had felt that relieved when the situation almost seemed hopeless. The last time that I felt that way, General Marquis had saved me from an ambush during a battle in the Carburetor Valley Region of Tian. That had been another close call and the General had been out doing his rounds when he saw me go off to practice. It was a good thing too because he could call in some help while helping me fend off the Crassen. After that he made me promise to always take somebot with me to help train. Of course, since it was General Marquis, I really couldn't say no.

Thoughts on the General caused me to sigh. It was spark-wrenching to hear of his offlining. He had a way about him that inspired everyone he met. He had been caring, and kind, and was always ready with a back-up plan in a tight spot. My lips ghosted a faint smile as the memory of our meeting in that bar with him and Once-Ler came to my mind. I had been so angry at this random bot for kissing Issimo but, in doing that, he had saved us.

"You seem pretty deep in thought."

I turned to the owner of the voice as General Scallion, known as Barbossa McFain for now, as he sat at the bar next to me. For my job here at the bar, I was pretty much a bouncer and Luciano was a waiter and server. He enjoyed the work for when we got slightly busy on Sunday. Didn't think there would be that many people on that day but oh well.

But, since there were no customers in the bar, I decided to sit and just relax. Scallion must have thought I needed company. While I didn't need it, I did appreciate it. "I was thinking about how lucky I am compared to so many of our fallen brethren. If it hadn't been for you and your Buccaneers, then Luciano and I wouldn't be here right now." Scallion had told me that he always referred to his team as the Buccaneers and so it didn't matter that I said that name out loud. He also said we could talk about ancient Earth times without hesitation. But, I had to be careful with how I spoke otherwise.

Scallion nodded to me. "I know the feeling Franz. I came here in 900 AD and, for those first six hundred and some stellar cycles, I was lost. There was no support for me and I was in a place that looked so much like home…and even still does. But then, I met Horatio, in 1550 and inducting him as one of our family reminded me that there were still more of us out there. So, with Horatio's help, we looked wherever we could on pirate ships to find our other family members. While we never found others from our family, we did find Charlotte and Jane in 1579 and we found Henry in 1652. The five of us have become our own unit and…to be honest, I now understand how our good friend felt with his siblings."

At the end there, I knew that he was thinking on Comet Gale and his siblings. General Pandimala had allowed them to stay as their own little group inside her chain of command, as long as they followed her orders, and many of the Generals who had close confidants said that they understood what it was like for Comet Gale and his siblings. Aranzer had his organization called Cirkus, Pandimala and Chaom seemed to have all of Dragonia under them, and Marquis even had Once-Ler…a bot who had once been our enemy. They all had confidants and could understand.

Now, General Scallion had the same in the form of his Buccaneers.

"So, this General here," I started as I reached behind the bar to pour myself a beer. "who do you believe that it is?"

Scallion got himself a beer and left the bar, causing me to do the same with my beer, before he led the way upstairs. Once we were inside the comm scanner room where I had arrived in soliform with Issimo, Scallion spoke. "I didn't get to see the soliform personally so I can't be certain. But, from what I saw on the security footage with what the others reported, I am sure that it is not Pandimala, Jabberwocky, or Chorale. While I guess they could try and disguise as males, this fight seemed more confrontational then they would allow. But, that does leave us Generals Vox, Comet Gale, and Aranzer and I have no idea who it is out of those three."

While his list was mostly right, I wanted to see the footage before I said anything. "Can you send me the recording of the fight the soliform had in your bar?"

Scallion nodded. "Yes, I'm hoping to see if you can tell me who this is."

I nodded and, once the footage arrived in my processor, I watched carefully. The teacher sure was lanky and was wearing a strange kind of uniform that I hadn't seen since the American Revolution. I had actually been fighting with the Hessians at the time but was converted to the American cause by a man named Dorian Theodore Colbert. He was of French descent and had seemed very nice and understanding. I had thanked him before finding Issimo and moving out west to start a farm. But, I didn't live in America for too many lives after that and, by the time America got to their Civil War, I had moved to the area that would become Germany.

When the teacher pinned Henry to the bar and leaned over him, I realized this was when the soliform had whispered the code phrase that Scallion had mentioned was used by the Generals. Something about his demeanor was offsetting to the list that I had to choose from but I knew that they were the only ones who could possibly be this soliform.

When the clip was over, I looked to Scallion before I answered him. "I can't be sure as to who this is, but I can almost guarantee that this is not General Vox." He looked at me in a questioning way and so I elaborated. "While I am not one hundred percent sure on this intel, I heard that General Vox and General Pandimala were captured after Dragonia's destruction and were forced to fight in the Gladiatorial Pits on Cybertron. Pandimala was able to escape during a fight and, with that distraction, Vox had escaped at the same time. From my sources, that I had before I landed here in 1000 B.C. with Issimo, I heard that Vox and Pandimala were sticking together. Since there isn't a femme with that soliform that looks like it could be Pandimala's, then I am sure that it is not them."

Scallion had a look of realization cross his faceplate and he nodded. Actually, it looked like he was about to say something when the sound of the smoke alarm going off in the kitchen caused him and I to race down the stairs and into said kitchen. My soliform hacked as black smoke filled the room and Scallion and I rushed to open the windows. Once they were open, the smoke soon cleared and I sighed, and Scallion matched it, as we saw a soot covered Luciano, Charlotte, and Jane standing by the torched over with a small burnt cake in Luciano's gloved hands.

"Um…oopsie?" Luciano stated guiltily.

Scallion and I facepalmed at the three before I spoke. "Oh Luciano you dummkopf."

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

It was dark out now as I drove toward the race sight in my alt mode. It felt so weird to have my alt mode out right now that I found myself having to focus on staying in soliform while inside. It wasn't easy to do at all. But, as I drove closer to the race, I was finding it easier and easier to manage.

While I focused on that, I also thought about today. As I figured, there were very few good grades on the quiz. The three top ones were from Vince, Tolax, and the top score going to Clair. Also as I expected, Miko failed it pretty miserably. I didn't like failing students, normally, but I wanted to put the pressure on the Crassen and that meant making it harder for her here at school.

After class let out, and everyone turned in their papers that were due to me by today, I had found Etoile and got her to tell me about the incident between Tolax and Jackson during their sixth grade year. Back then, Jackson had been kinda an asshole…like Vince acted now. He had dared the outcast of the class, Tolax, to come with him to an old mine outside of town and run inside…stark naked. Tolax, who back then was a kid who wanted to be friends with everyone, accepted the dare and did as told. But, Jackson had stolen his clothes and, even worse, there was a cave in and that had trapped Tolax inside.

Or it would have if Vince hadn't snuck into the cave before the cave in…but after Jackson left, and had helped Tolax out a way that he knew. Vince's mom had told him stories about how his grandfather had worked in the mine back when it was in operation. Also, Vince had heard Jackson talking about double-crossing Tolax and had brought a pair of his old clothes to the cave. So, when they could escape out of the emergency vent in the cave, Tolax had thankfully been fully clothed. After that day the two boys were inseparable.

Their relationship with Jackson, however, also took a turn in a new direction. According to the files, before the incident, Vince ignored Jackson, and most people in general while Tolax tried to be social with everyone and was kind in almost a naïve way. Now though, Tolax was very independent and was really only social with Vince, his sister, and Sierra St. John while Vince seemed to be a sort of retaliatorily bully. But, while unofficially I supported his retaliation against Jackson, I was going to have to get him to stop messing with the other kids in the school. That young Rafael Esquivel had a bright future but Vince was not helping him at all.

Pulling up to the race, I saw that I was one of the first cars here with the only other car being a red Aston Martin. It was a nice looking car and I could see that its driver looked like he was serious. Though, I had to wonder how he got his hair that red. I mean, it was a legitimate red and not like the carrot top that humans called red hair.

Walking up, I opened my wallet before I spoke. "How much is the entry for this race?"

The man in charge of taking the funds seemed to study me for a moment before saying, "One hundred dollars a pop. Top 3 finishers split the pot fifty, thirty, twenty." So there was good money to be made if you won. There were usually ten racers at least and that would mean one thousand dollars for the pot total. First place got five hundred dollars, while three hundred and two hundred went to second and third place respectfully. All three places made money if they won and that would bring in a lot of people to race.

"Very well put me in." I told the man before handing him my hundred dollars.

In return, he nodded before putting the money in a safe box and then handed me a sticker. That wasn't going on my alt mode no matter what. "Put this on your helmet if you have one. If not, it goes on your clothes somewhere. After the race it will be used to identify you as the winner of whatever place you got."

I glanced at the number and saw that I was number seven. It was a pretty decent number and I felt like I would do alright with it.

"Sweet ride you got there."

I turned at the voice and saw that the driver of the Aston Martin was standing in front of me. His red hair was really noticeable at this distance and he seemed to not have a single hair out of place. I had a feeling that he was a perfectionist and that meant that I didn't want to mess with his ride at all. Perfectionist had a way of caring for their rides a lot.

"Thanks. You've got a pretty excellent looking ride yourself." I complimented him back. I figured I would try and not get on a perfectionist's bad side. That would usually help later on. Plus, his car looked pretty sweet.

"So, you've got a Peugeot Onyx. What year is it?" This man again asked.

I smiled at my alt with pride before saying, "It's one of the new 2014 models. I inherited a lot from my dad when he died and I used some of the money to get me this beauty. I wouldn't trade it for anything." I then realized that I didn't have a name for this man so I extended my hand to him. "The name's George Lafayette."

The red haired man stared at my outstretched hand for a second before seeming to come to a decision. "I'm Kalan Outland. I hope you're better at driving then most of the people around here are." He then shook my hand.

A smirk played onto my face before I could stop myself. Even though I did not like to think of my far past life as a Vosnian, I still remembered racing those flyers and showing them that us grounders could move just as fast as they were. On Dragonia, I did not lose that yearning and, when we would have some downtime, I would challenge everyone I could to a race. But, so far, I was the fastest that I could find.

Even during my life on Earth, once having a car like mine was not considered witchcraft or sorcery or a miracle, I would race it. They weren't nearly as exciting as my races on Dragonia or Cybertron had been so far. But, with how Kalan was talking, I was going to hopefully have a decent race for a change.

"May the best win." I responded to his acceptance before we both let go and made way to our cars. I wasn't sure about him, but I didn't want to be recognized by my students, yet, and I had a feeling that the other racers would be here soon. Once I was in my car, I put the sticker on my helmet before putting it over my head.

To my surprise, though, the next car was a green 2014 Viper SRT Roadster. There were a few markings of gold and black on it but what really caught my attention was the pink mark that looked like a burn mark. If that was who I thought it was, then I was confused. He said that he had some business to take care of out of town tonight. I thought he had been talking about Aranzer…maybe contacting him and I had told him not to tell anyone that I was alive. But, that didn't seem to be the case if this was him.

" _Once-Ler, were are you right now?"_ I contacted him over a special comm line the two of us set up between each other.

I watched as the green 2014 Viper SRT stopped a few cars away and Oliver Lercone walked out while looking to be on the phone. _"Hello my friend. Like I said earlier there was some business out of town that I had to deal with."_

Oliver walked up to the man and handed the entrance fee to him before I spoke again. _"Really? What kind of business?"_

Once the man gave Oliver his sticker, he turned and said, _"The kind that I really can't talk with you about right now. Is there are reason you called?"_ Well, he wasn't lying to me. Another reason that Once-Ler and I got along so well was because we both had a penchant for racing. But, I was assuming that he thought that, due to my current life as a teacher, that I wouldn't want to race and wouldn't want to know about it. He was probably right if he was thinking that.

" _As a matter of fact there is a reason."_ I started as he made way back to his alt mode. He paused for a second, though, as I spoke. _"If you would kindly turn to your right and then explain that would be great."_

I almost burst out laughing at the utter look of confusion that was on his face as he turned toward me. Of course, that was immediately followed by surprise. _"Marquis, I thought that you wouldn't be racing due to your teaching status? What if one of your students saw your car here?"_

Laughter came from my end before I explained. _"You don't have to worry about my students identifying me from my alt mode. I only take it out about once a month, if that, and I do it at night and I go as far away as I can before I turn on any lights. They don't even know that I have a car. Though if what happens tonight happens like I want it to, then I might start taking it out more often."_

"… _You are going to go easy on me right?"_ Once-Ler asked as he got into his car and, after a moment of watching him mess with his helmet to put the sticker on, he put it on.

A snort of disbelief left me. _"Only in your dreams Once, only in your dreams."_

I heard a groan off annoyance come from him. _"Then I guess I have to hope for second…a long second."_ He had raced me once or twice and knew that he couldn't match me. Not many ground alt modes could. I knew I was going to be winning this pot, no matter what size it was, and that was because of my past.

We sat there for a few more minutes as the rest of the contenders signed in with the controller before we were motioned to be pulled up to the start. To my surprise, I was in the front of the pack line with Kalan's car parked next to my own. At the sound of his engine revving, I felt my racing instincts kick in and I did the same. This human seemed like he was going to be a great challenge. If he was even half as fast as how he acted he was, then Once-Ler might have to put up a pretty decent fight for second.

"Alright racers!" The M.C. started. While he continued to speak about the rules, I took a quick glance around and noticed that Vince's car was there and I could see two occupants. Guess Tolax was serious about joining Vince at the races from now on. After the race, I would confront them and give them a warning about getting hurt. I snapped my attention forward as the M.C. started the countdown. "Three, two," I revved my engine as the adrenaline started to pump through my systems. Race time was about to begin and I felt like I would be challenged tonight by more than just Once-Ler. "one…" I revved my engine even more as the final second was called. "GO!"

My tires caught traction almost instantly and I pulled out to the front of the pack. I wasn't going too fast yet because it was so sweet to let others think that they actually had a chance against you. Then, you crushed them. But, I had to be careful. Human cars were only built to go so fast and going faster than a fighter jet was not a part of their build. I would give myself away if I went even normal Cybertronian racing speed, which was nowhere near that fast.

Movement from next to me caused me to turn and I saw that, to my surprise, I had company that wasn't Once. It was Kalan and he was keeping perfect pace with me. I felt the thrill of the race course through me and I found myself going even faster and, yet, Kalan was doing to the same. This was a spark-exciting race and frag I would be lying if I said that I wasn't enjoying it. After this race was done, maybe I would contact Kalan and see if he would want to meet up for a full on race.

I was so into the race, that I barely noticed when we sped past the finish line, me ahead by a little, and didn't stop. The money wasn't important to me right now. I finally had someone who could keep up with me here on Earth…at this Earth high speed, and I was relishing in the thrill of the race.

But, my excitement didn't last long and I was saddened to see Kalan turn and drive off into the desert. A part of me wanted to follow but, before I could act on it, Once-Ler contacted me. _"Marquis you need to slow down now!"_

" _Why? Am I too far ahead?"_ I wasn't being serious at that but, without paying attention to my speed, I turned around and started to head back.

However, his next words changed that. _"Marquis you are going faster than you do against car alt mode Dragonians! If you don't want them to suspect that we aren't human cars then you need to slam on your brakes now!"_

I had never slammed on my brakes so hard. Before he called, I hadn't bothered to look and see how fast I was going. Kalan was an amazing driver and I just wanted that race to go on forever. But, looking at my speed records from during the race, I noticed that after Kalan and I got away from the finish line, a good ways away, I had picked up speed and had continued to pick up speed.

It took a click for the implications of what had just happened to hit me. But when they did, they hit me hard. That Kalan…he wasn't human. He was a soliform! Plus, since I knew most of the racers that were Dragonians, and none of them were near that fast, then that meant that, "Fragging Crassen piece of jynt!" I slipped Dragonian at the end but I didn't matter. It made me feel better than saying its translation of scrap…or the English shit. So, in reality, I combined three languages that I was familiar with and it still didn't cover it. I had been racing a fragging Crassen and didn't tear him to shreds!

While I was angry as all slag about not recognizing the Crassen, I had to calm myself down as the abandoned finish line came into view along with Once's alt mode blocking a familiar black car with orange flame decal. While I was angry beyond all measure that there was a fragging Crassen racing against me I had to keep calm to not scare the kids.

Once I was stopped in front of them, I turned off my engine and started to get out. The first thing that I heard when I got out was the sound of Oliver calming them down. "I know he is taking a while but my friend who wanted to talk with you boys just pulled in."

They both turned as I shut my door and I had never seen two face drop into that much fear since during World War One when I was with a fellow soldier and we had caught two German spies digging through our files. But, Vince and Tolax didn't look quite as guilty as though did. But, they looked just as terrified and worried. I was, technically, their teacher and so I was normally obligated to turn them in for this and then follow through with the shit storm that followed.

"M…Mr. Lafayette." Tolax stuttered out. "This…well…"

I could see that the boy was trying to think of something to say to me. I was curious if it would be denial or if he would go to bribery or…by chance, he might just tell the truth. Or, as I looked at Vince, he could just go for the silent treatment like Vince was doing.

But, instead of testing out my hunch, I decided to not make them wait. "I overheard what you boys were saying in the locker room this afternoon. Ms. Bouchard was very concerned when you took so long and hadn't returned yet. So, she found me and asked me to find you. Hearing you were coming to a race tonight, I would come and see what it was about. Also, I did some digging into both of you."

That caused a reaction in Vince. He looked worried. "So what? See that I skipped a few classes?"

I shook my head, but not in denial. "Well, I saw that but I did more than school digging. You are supporting your family…aren't you Vince?"

This time, he noticeably flinched. He did a good job at disguising his worry but that made him slip. And, since he slipped, I had a feeling that he was not going to recover from that. "Yeah, these races are how I can help pay the bills. I earn more here in a day then most kids in down earn in a week. With races happening every night, I have enough to take care of mom's bills, whatever Kestral needs, and the farm. Then, with what is left, I put aside for my car and my racing so I can get more money." He then sighed though and looked at me. "But, what is going to happen now?"

I wanted to talk but out in the middle of the desert wasn't the greatest place for this talk. Plus, with my anger at the Crassen still in me, I could use a drive back to town to calm down. "Let's all go to my place right now and talk about it. Call your sister and tell her to come. And, if she insists on bringing Ms. St. John with her then Sierra can come as well." It was always better to stick with your friends and so I figured they might all also enjoy the work.

Vince looked confused but nodded. "Fine." He then hopped into his car while it looked like Tolax got on the phone with his sister.

Oliver gave me a questioning look but I shook my head before getting into my alt mode. I needed to tell Oliver what happened and it would be best over the comm system while we drove. Once everyone started their engines, I led the way to my house with Once-Ler behind me and Vince driving behind him.

It wasn't long before Once-Ler contacted me. _"Okay why are we taking them back home? I stopped them because I figured that you were going to lecture them."_ I sighed and sent Once-Ler copies of both of their files without saying a word. Once he was done, he contacted me again. _"Okay, so now I get it. You are going to give them some sort of job. Doing what exactly?"_

" _I have a warehouse with all the knick-knacks that I've collected over the centuries that I have lived on this planet. Well, they are replicas since everything original is in my sub-space but I haven't had a chance to categorize it. So, I am going to offer that they do that. Not only will I pay them and help them study for school, I will offer to keep quiet on the races and allow them to continue to race in them…just not as frequently that it disrupts with school work."_

Once was quiet for a click as he processed what I was going to ask. _"Does that mean they will be over for dinner a lot?"_

I hadn't thought about that but it could very well end up that way. I wasn't upset about it though. Well, as long as they didn't have connections with these bloody Crassen on the planet. I enjoyed having people around me. It reminded me of Dragonia and how you learned to know everyone. Soon enough, everyone was like family to me. I felt a twinge of pain as I realized that many of those family members probably weren't alive this solar cycle. But, I had to keep going for the ones that were.

It wasn't long before the three of our cars arrived at my house and I noticed that Sierra and Kestral were sitting on my front porch steps waiting. I opened the garage and, once Once-Ler and I parked inside, we walked back outside and let everyone in through the front door. Soon, we were all seated in the living room.

"So…why are we here?" Sierra asked in a confused voice.

Deciding to put everything out at once, I started the explanation. "Tonight, I caught Vince and Tolax street racing. I told him that I would talk about what I was going to do about it when we were here. I also asked that he have you and Kestral meet us here so I can offer you two the same thing I am about to offer Tolax and Vince."

The four of them looked at each other in confusion before Vince turned to me. "What do you mean teach? Aren't you going to turn me into the school for illegal street racing?"

They all showed surprise when I shook my head. "No. Even if I did turn you in, would that really stop you from attending them?" He shook his head so I continued. "While as a teacher I don't approve of you doing something this dangerous, I understand why you do. What I speak now is as a friend to you…if you would allow?"

He seemed to study me for a moment and, I think that it was the fact that I said that I understood why he raced and the fact that I said I wouldn't stop him from racing that he answered the way he did. "Yeah go ahead Frenchy."

I smirked at the use of my nickname that the kids used before I continued. "As a friend, I must say that I am very impressed with all that you shoulder. You take care of so much and still do what you wish to do. If it wasn't for you taking too long in the locker room I wouldn't have been any the wiser. But, I do agree with what I heard Tolax tell you earlier." I saw resistance show on his face and so I knew that I had to continue quickly before I lost him. "Going to so many races so often could be dangerous. However, I have a proposition if you will allow me to address you as a possible employer. This job option is available for all four of you and is why I asked all of you to be here."

This time, Vince was much less hesitant in his answer. "What sort of job Mr. Lafayette?"

"You can call me George when we are not in class or at school activities Vince…all of you really. Realize how much of a privilege this is though." I was glad, though, that he noted the seriousness of this job offer. The four of them nodded before I continued. "I have a warehouse of replica artifacts that I have collected, or had made, over the years. This warehouse is on the west side of town and used to be an old military silo. I admit that my collection has gotten a little…large over the years. But, I haven't had time to sort it. So here is my proposition for you." I then leaned forward before continuing. "I don't care what hours you work or what days. I will give you a key for entry to whatever you want in that place. There are a few empty ones if you want to hang out there with responsible friends. To clock in, you simply let the system there scan your hand print. When you are done working, again do so. However, the party rooms have to be entered by scanner as well and if those are activated then you are put off the clock."

Vince and the others seemed to study this motion of mine for a moment before Tolax, to my surprise, asked the down to Earth question. "How much would you be paying us?"

I threw some figures around in my head, with what I had saved from all my past lives and what I had now, before saying, "I could probably get away with paying you 25 dollars an hour. More than most would get even in the big city at first. Like I said, you work as long as you want and I will pay you for each hour you work. Also, I offer my house to all of you if you want to stop by and get help studying for classes. I will guarantee that I plan on having many more pop tests coming up in these last two weeks of classes for the year. I offer help with studying with all of your classes though. However, there is another condition that I need to speak with you about."

They had looked ready to accept when I threw that in. "What kind of condition? Are you going to blackmail us with the fact that you know Vince is into illegal races?"

I immediately shook my helm at that. "No. Besides the fact that I already said that I was going to allow you to keep racing, I wouldn't be able to blackmail you very well for that anyways."

"Why?" Tolax asked me.

Before I could answer that, though, Kestral spoke up. "Because if he tried to blackmail us for going to the races, then all we would have to do to get him to stop is say that we would tell that he raced. I'm guessing that is what happened tonight right?"

I nodded. "You are correct Kestral. Since I participated in the race and I am your teacher you would have just as much grounds to get me in trouble as I would to get you. So, we are balanced out by that fact." That seemed to cause Tolax, Vince, and Sierra to relax. I had a feeling that everyone besides Tolax went to the races at least sometimes and then I had a feeling that Tolax was going to be going to more of them.

There was comfortable silence between the six of us before Vince got us back on track. "So, what's the condition we have to accept to get all of this?"

A small smile came to me before I responded. "Well, it's more toward you Vince but the others need to watch themselves as well. I understand why you pick on Jackson Darby and, as a friend I support it. As a teacher though I am neutral. However, you need to stop picking on the others. Rafael Esquivel in particular is a case that I have noticed. He has a bright future and your bullying is not going to help him at all. Plus, unless I missed something, you only have reason to be mad at Jackson and that's where you need to focus your anger. Don't let innocents get hurt."

The other three nodded right away but Vince looked like he was thinking on it. I could understand if he was going through what I think he was. It was hard to admit that you were wrong and Vince was going to have to do that.

After a few more minutes of silence, Vince finally nodded…albeit slowly. "Yeah, I'll apologize to Raf tomorrow. I guess I just associated him with Jack since they hang out. Miko…I'm honestly a little too nervous around her to do anything."

I let out a small laugh at his last part. "Yeah, Nakadai is a little intimidating. She has a pretty good stockpile of confidence in her to keep anyone from really messing with her."

The six of us let out a laugh but, when I looked up at my wall, I saw that it was already late. So, I stood and gave all four kids a key to the warehouse before saying, "Alright, like I said your hours are what you make them. You all had better get on to your homes and get some sleep." I then paused in my talking as we made our way outside. Before the kids got into their cars, however, I had one more thing to say. "You all had better study for history during your study halls tomorrow. I hear that the frequency of those pop quizzes are going to go up."

The nodded and got into the respective rides before going off. Once they were out of sight, Once-Ler and I made our way inside. "Marquis," He started after the door was closed and we moved toward our rooms. "what happened tonight? Why did you drive so fast for a human race?"

I got in front of my door when he asked that and a growl escaped me as I answered. "Because that red car was a Crassen and I didn't realize it until he was already gone and you snapped me out of my racing high. I hadn't raced that fast in so long that I let it cloud my judgement."

His eyes widened for a second before he let off his own growl. "I keep tabs on the races and see if I can't flush out the Crassen. His kind will pay for what they did to us."

As much as I admired his enthusiasm, I had to shake my helm. "No, it would be a waste of resources to go and hunt him down. But, I heard that there was a pirate bar that just opened up here in town this past weekend."

"Yeah I was going to go to it this weekend. It looked interesting. But, what is your deal with it?" Once-Ler asked me in return.

I let out a sigh due to everything that happened today before saying, "I want you to stop in there tomorrow after school and see just what they are about. I'm not a fan of coincidences and they make a big one. I told you about the trip I took with my students to Carson City last week correct?" He nodded and so I continued. "Well, after I ran out of the building with the three kids, I ducked inside of a pirate bar to be safe. I got into a scuffle with one of the patrons there and, for some reason, my instinct told me to whisper one of the Dragonian phrases us generals came up with if we were separated. But, the man didn't react to it and so I left with the kids. But, the news of a pirate bar opening here in town has my interest peeked." I then sent him a picture of the man I got into the fight with along with three other people who looked like they worked in the bar. One was the man Horatio who tried to stop the fight while the other two were the servers behind the bar, twin sisters I was sure they were.

"So, if I see any in this bar what do I do?" Once-Ler asked me after a moment of studying the pictures.

"Don't do anything." I told him. "Come back and let me know. If they are there, we can make a plan on how to confront them about their sudden move to Jasper of all places. I have a feeling that it has to do with what I whispered to that man Henry."

Once nodded before he turned and went into his room. It was pretty late and I really did need some recharge. So, I walked in and changed my soliform's pajamas to my regular ones before I laid down on the bed and started the procedures to let me recharge while my soliform was out. To do that, I let my thoughts go to that race and that fragging Crassen. I had enjoyed the race. I shouldn't have. He was the enemy who had destroyed our world. I had talked to the Crassen and I had smiled…I then realized something important and sat up straight.

"Frag it I complimented him!"

* * *

 **Vince: *looks around* This place is weird.**

 **Authoress: *offended* Well I'm sorry that you don't approve. Please remember who writes these things.**

 **Sierra: Yes, and you also have to keep readers happy.**

 **Authoress: Well...yes I guess I do, but please remember that I have a lot of wiggle room.**

 **Tolax:...Can we stop arguing with her now?**

 **Vince: No.**

 **Tolax: *starts counting days of life left***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this surprisingly long chapter. Honestly, I didn't even want this chapter to be this long but the words just came to me. I'm on the fence on whether I am going to be having Vince and the other three humans a big part of the story but I will see. I definitely want to have some fun with them in this story. Also, I noticed that the girl that Sierra usually hangs out with looks a lot like Vince and so I decided to make her Kestral, his sister. And yes, I am not a Jack fan so I have given him and a darker past with Vince that explains Vince's behavior somewhat. I like making bad guys good guys and so this is the result. Next chapter has Once-Ler taking a peek at the bar and yet another strange visitor arriving in Jasper. But, this visitor will have an immediate role in the story during the chapter.**

 **Well, until next time, please read and review! TTYL! =) *goes to find something fun to torture my characters with***


	8. The Gathering of Generals

**AN: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Once-Ler: I am really excited about this!**

 **Marquis: What, are you talking about the title of this chapter? I am as well. That title is very comforting to what is going to happen.**

 **Authoress: Yes, though Once-Ler gets to have some fun before hand getting some intel.**

 **Once-Ler: Well...I wasn't really talking about the title. I just found out that Pokemon Go has the Generation 2 Pokemon out. I want to get a Skarmory. *pauses as realizes what Authoress said* Wait...what am I doing?**

* * *

Ch. 8: The Gathering of Generals

 **Once-Ler's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I whistled to myself as I made my way down the street. Yeah, it was one of Marquis' school days but Sarah hadn't needed my help today so I had the day off. Honestly, I was glad I did. With all the stress that Marquis seemed to be under in the little time that I was with him, I wanted to get this investigation of the bar done as soon as possible. I had heard Marquis berate himself last night about complimenting the Crassen…before he knew he was a Crassen, and I knew that information alone was probably eating away at him. Some good news might do him a lot of good. I couldn't have him crashing himself during class. It would be hard to explain why George suddenly vanished from his classroom.

Looking up, I saw that the bar was open, which was strange in itself for only being nine thirty in the morning. But, of course, I couldn't talk much. I was looking to come inside at nine thirty in the morning. As I walked through the doors, I saw that the place was pretty well lit for a bar and that it was very clean. Behind the bar was one of the two ladies that Marquis had sent me a photo of. That confirmed his suspicion right away. But, I couldn't leave just yet. That would look suspicious…plus that wouldn't be nice to the lady.

Sitting at the bar, I smiled as the woman walked up to me. "Welcome stranger. What can I get for you?"

I smirked at her before saying, "Besides your name, I would like to have a dark and stormy please."

Immediately, I could tell I was going to like this place when she smirked right back at me. "Well, how about you giving me your name to pay for mine, and the drink is coming right up." She then worked on making my drink.

Laughter came out of me before I paid her for the name. "My name's Oliver Lercone. Just moved in with a friend of mine a few days ago and heard that there was a bar around open this early in the morning. I don't usually drink but when I do I like a calm atmosphere."

The woman in front of me had finished making my drink when I answered her and had been about to hand me my drink when she paused at my words. But, she seemed to shake herself out of it pretty quickly. "Interesting name you have Oliver. I'm Jane Bellamy." I noted that she was wearing quite a bit of gold in her outfit. She handed me my drink before moving to wipe down the back counter.

So, I figured that I would keep her company with conversation. "So like I said, I'm new around here. You all been here long?"

To my 'surprise' she shook her head. "No, we just set up shop last weekend. Everyone is going to be a stranger around here for a while."

I let out a laugh at that and took a sip of my drink before saying, "So, are you guys a chain or did one of you get this gig set up?"

Jane raised an eyebrow at me. "You know, you're pretty inquisitive for coming in here this early in the morning. But, I guess I'll answer. We are not a chain. My boss, Barbossa, set us up in Carson City about five years ago. Before you ask, we came here because we were getting pretty bored in the big city and wanted a new area. Now, you answer me this handsome, where did you come from?"

This lady really knew how to keep a customer and how to keep them talking. She flattered me right before asking me a question. This place was better than I thought it would be. "I'm from Florida. Moved here a few weeks ago to see a friend of mine in hopes that he could help me find work. Not only did I find him, and he gave me part-time work, but he is letting me stay in one of his extra rooms."

"So you got pretty lucky." Jane responded as she finished cleaning the counter and went to pick up a glass.

The two of us then started to talk on little subjects and I felt like I was enjoying myself. Jane was a very smart girl with a wit on her. I had a feeling that General Scallion would have liked to meet her. After a while, though, she seemed to glance around my shoulder before saying, "You any good at playing that?"

I raised my eyebrow at her and scooted my barstool back slightly before I took my guitar off my back. "Jane, I'm probably one of the best players you'll ever meet. Want a sample?"

She let out a laugh before she turned her head to the kitchen. "Hey Charlotte! Get out here! I've got a guy out here who is going to show me if he can play his string holder here."

String holder? Well, she was digging at me now. This was more than just a string holder. I was going to prove that to her and whoever this Charlotte was. While I heard footsteps, I took a quick glance at the clock and felt my eyes widen when I saw that it was already quarter to three. I had to get out of here soon to meet up with Marquis. He was not going to be happy that I spent half the day in a bar.

When the door to the kitchen opened, I refocused on what was going on in front of me and I smirked when I saw, who I was assuming was, Jane's twin. They looked pretty much the same but Charlotte wasn't wearing as much gold colored clothes as Jane was. Otherwise, I would have thought I was looking at mirror images. The sister turned to me. "Hiya. The name's Charlotte Bellamy. I hope you are able to play decently. I heard from some of the locals here that some famous singer and actress has a house down here and she is supposed to be coming in some time this afternoon. I'm hoping to get her to come in for a set this weekend…really get a crowd in here. I just have to talk to the boss. Her name is Christine Rich and I'm hoping that, if you are good enough, you could open her act."

So I was a crowd calmer until their main attraction would come out. But, money was money and this would help me investigate more. "So do I have any requests or do I just play from what I want?" I asked as I strummed a couple of chords on my guitar.

The two girls looked at each other and smirked, which caused me to frown. Great. I had experience enough to know that, when any number of girls smirked like that, then I was in for quite a difficult time. I still remembered when General Chorale once smirked like that before I had to go undercover with her…as her younger brother. I never got over some of those mental scars.

"Well," Jane started. "since we are a pirate bar, it might be best to at least start with a sea chanty or a song similar. Show us what you know?"

Laughter escaped me at her request. Of course they were going to ask me for a sea song. Thankfully, I had thought to look up a couple this morning before coming to the bar. I mean, I loved music after all and this was a pirate bar. Made sense that I should be prepared to combine the two when I came here. "Very well then." I chuckled as I made sure my strings were in tune before I thought of which song I wanted to do. "I believe you ladies have helped me decide what song to play. You remind me of the Spanish Ladies of old, and it would be a shame not to sing about them now."

They both smiled at that and I took that as an okay to get started. So, I started to play my guitar. I was actually kind of excited to be playing it. The other day, when I was helping Sarah in her class, I hadn't been able to bring my guitar and had to use the school's instruments. They weren't bad, but it had felt strange to not be playing my own instrument to teach the students.

 _Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies_

 _Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;_

 _For we've received orders for to sail for old England_

 _But we hope in a short time to see you again_

I soon found myself singing along with my guitar. The song was catchy, the reason it was a sea song, and I found that I was actually enjoying the singing. Maybe, once Marquis and I figured out what the bar's real angle was here in Jasper, I could play here on a more regular basis. Of course, I would hope to play different songs than this one. My guitar was pretty flexible in what it liked to play but it did like to change it up from time to time.

As the chorus came, I made sure to sing like I would be if I was actually on a wooden ship. While I had never been on one myself, Marquis had mentioned that he had the other day and, after this was done, I was going to ask him what that had been like.

 _We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors_

 _We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas_

 _Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;_

 _From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues_

Between the chorus and the next verse, I took a glance up and saw that the two ladies had moved to sit on the bar and they were humming along with what I sang. Guess they did know this song. That was good since they were a pirate bar and all. Would have to make sure that I had a small repertoire of these sorts of songs. It might just make me some extra money.

 _We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys_

 _We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;_

 _'Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom_

 _So we squared our main yard and up channel did make_

I almost jumped when a door from up the stairs opened and a rather intimidating sort of man walked down the stairs. Thankfully, Marquis had been able to figure out his name during his confrontation with them all. His name was Horatio Booth and he had been the level headed one who had agreed with Marquis in paying back the money for the beer he spilled. I watched him glance at me in a curious way before he joined the twins behind the bar. So, he worked here as well. Marquis hadn't been positive that he worked here but now I knew for sure. The time for the second chorus came and so I was ready.

 _We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors_

 _We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas_

 _Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;_

 _From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues_

Horatio leaned down toward Jane and whispered something to her for a moment. I watched as she seemed to hesitate before she whispered something back to him. Something had to be going on but I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Horatio nodded after a moment of her whispering to him and then the three of them turned to look back at me. To show that I hadn't been eavesdropping, I started on the next verse.

 _The first land we sighted was calléd the Dodman_

 _Next Rame Head off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight;_

 _We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover_

 _And then we bore up for the South Foreland light_

Alright, only two more verses left now. I was more and more curious about this new man that had shown up but I couldn't talk until the number was finished. Thankfully, I was enjoying this song or I might actually be upset.

"Once-Ler where are you? ~Marquis."

I almost jumped and lost my place when Marquis suddenly sent me that private message. I couldn't act nervous around the three of them now if I wanted to get back in here for more observing. "Busy. ~Once-Ler." I sent back to him before I started the chorus again.

 _We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors_

 _We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas_

 _Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;_

 _From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues_

Again, I jumped. But, this time it was not due to Marquis. This time, it was because Jane, Charlotte, and Horatio had decided to join in with my singing and, while Jane and Charlotte had average voices, Horatio had a really deep base voice. It wasn't the lowest I had heard but it ranked in the top five. Frag that mech could sing deeply. Immediately, I started into the next verse.

 _Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor_

 _And all in the Downs that night for to lie;_

 _Let go your shank painter, let go your cat stopper_

 _Haul up your clewgarnets, let tacks and sheets fly!_

The three behind the bar seemed to be enjoying the song I was playing a lot and I found myself really enjoying singing with them all. To be honest, it reminded me of singing with my fellow Dragonians. I would be the first to admit that, during my first thirty or forty solar cycles, I had been really nervous about relaxing with them all. Yes, I was fully on their side but that didn't meant that I was comfortable singing and enjoying myself with them. Thankfully, Generals Scallion and Chorale got me out of that nervousness pretty quickly and I was able to help entertain everybot.

 _We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors_

 _We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas_

 _Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;_

 _From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues_

"Once, I am by my car at school. I thought that you were going to be meeting me? ~Marquis."

I resisted the urge to shake my head at that before I sent an answer. "Marquis, I'm at that pirate bar. I should be leaving in about ten minutes. Can you wait for me? ~Once-Ler." …What? I may have walked here but that didn't mean that I wanted to have to walk home. If I could ride with General Marquis then I was going to take that opportunity every time I could. I…we all thought that we had lost him millions of stellar cycles ago and I was not going to be losing out on any opportunity to spend time with him.

A sigh could almost be heard in his response. "Just…don't be too long Once. I want to wash my alt mode and I saw this morning in the garage that yours could use a good washing as well. Plus I have some more pop quizzes to grade. ~Marquis."

If I didn't know that he was giving those quizzes to stress out those fragging Crassen, then I would think that he was cruel for giving all these pop quizzes during the last two weeks of school for the year. I hated it when my teachers would do that during my different lives. But, this was something that he could do that wouldn't raise much suspicion about his motives. As I went to sing the last verse, I noticed that the three behind the bar joined me.

 _Now let ev'ry man drink off his full bumper_

 _And let ev'ry man drink off his full glass;_

 _We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy_

 _And here's to the health of each true-hearted lass._

I barely had a moment to take an intake before we were moving into the final chorus. Singing in a group was a powerful tool and one that these guys seemed to know how to use efficiently.

 _We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors_

 _We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas_

 _Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;_

 _From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues_

I strummed a few more chords of the song before I let my instrument go silent. The bar seemed almost eerily quiet after that but I took the dreaded silence to put my guitar on my back. "So, how did I do?"

The three of them seemed to snap out of some dream at the same time because they all shook their heads before Jane took out a piece of paper and handed it to me. "Now, I can't guarantee you a spot but if you can write down your number and name here then I can get back with you by tomorrow morning to see if my boss would want you to perform for him. He's out on business right now and I'll show him the security of your performance." She then leaned closer. "Between you and me though, I'm pretty sure that he is going to like it." A wink soon followed her statement.

I stood up from my stool and nodded to them. "Well, thank you for listening to me. However, I do have a friend who is going to be pretty upset if I keep him waiting. Said something this morning about cleaning our cars. Should be fun!" I then turned to leave. But, I got about one step before I ran into someone and I could hear a liquid splash up into whoever it was.

Taking a glance up, I felt my eyes widen slightly when I saw that it was Henry McCallister; the same man who Marquis fought last time. Marquis had thought that he was just a regular in the bar but, since he was down here in Jasper with the other three from Marquis' last encounter with them, then I was pretty sure that he was a worker in the bar.

"Did that serious happen again? Why couldn't you watch where you are going?" Henry demanded me as he waved the now empty stein in my face while rivulets of rum flowed down his face.

For a second, I wasn't sure how to respond to him. But, then I remembered what Marquis told me he responded with and I figured this would be an interesting ploy to see how it worked. "You know, they say that you can tell the strength of a pirate from the hold he has on his drink of rum. Seeing as you got yours knocked out so easily…well…"

I left the sentence to hang in the air as I immediately started to back up. Never in my existence on Earth had I ever seen a human's face turn so red with anger so quickly. There was even a second when I thought that I saw steam actually coming out of his ears and fire burning in his eyes.

"You little twerp!" Henry yelled at me before lunging.

Now, while it was fun to tease the guy, I realized that I had to book it out of there. So, with the grace from hiding out with Cirkus for so long, I launched myself over Henry, using his head as a slight spring board, before I landed and bolted out of the door. I didn't need to be in a fight and I had gotten enough information for Marquis for now. I flinched when I heard the sound of glass shatter by my head as I opened the bar door before I bolted into the sunshine and down the street.

I kept on running until I saw Marquis' car. Also never in my existence had I ran that fast for that long in this form. When I finally got over to the concerned Marquis, I plopped into his passenger seat. He soon followed me in and started the car. "What happened to you Oliver?"

"I'll explain later." I responded in-between deep breaths. Battle and Cirkus performances were one thing…but running from an angry drinking pirate was something that really got your energon running.

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"There is no way on Earth that you are going to make me do this Oliver." I immediately stated as he stood in front of me.

After he had explained what had happened at the bar, the circumstances of which I could only facepalm at, we had pulled up to my house and I had left my car in the driveway. Oliver had immediately hopped out and pulled his own alt mode out of the garage and next to mine in the drive way. We were washing our alt modes after all and I liked to hand wash mine.

But…Oliver was now wanting to add a little something that I hadn't agreed on. "Come on George. Since I am going to be hand-washing my alt mode, I at least want to show off this body while I do it. But it will look weird if you are all dressed up and I am in my swim suit."

Once-Ler had manipulated his soliform so he was only wearing his swim shorts that were forest green with gold ties. Of course, he had a fit body. I would be surprised if there was a Dragonian soliform that wasn't fit. I knew that my own was fit. Our soliforms were reflections of how in shape our actual body was and I knew that mine should be at almost top performance.

Besides last night, I made sure to work out in the way that Pandimala and Chaom had taught us Generals. Before 5,500 B.C., I had to sneak around with my actual body to perform the workout routines that Pandimala and Chaom had taught the Generals to keep us safe. But, in 5,500 B.C., I figured out how to do the same workouts with my soliform and that experience would transfer to my actual chassis. In a sense, I guess that I became one with my soliforms and the workout I did in them showed in my actual form as well. That reminded me that I had to give Once-Ler the programming as well so he could join me for my workouts.

But, back to the situation at servo. "Oliver what if one of my students saw me?" I argued. This town was small enough that it would be probable that one of my students saw me.

However, instead of being discouraged, Oliver simply let out a laugh. "Come on George, is that your only issue? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that after all of these pop quizzes you are giving them, only our four friends will really like you."

And I just lost my only defense. Frag Once-Ler for that. With all of these quizzes, and so close to when school was going to be letting out, I was sure that everyone besides Vince, Tolax, Kestral, and Sierra were going to want me gone for next school year. That meant that I had just lost and there was no point in wasting any more time in debating this with him. So, with a defeated sigh, I took a click to modify my soliform's program and I shivered when I felt my soliform change. It was strange phasing my clothes in the middle of the day. Usually the only times I changed clothes were at night before bed or in the morning for school.

Once I was done, I looked at myself and sighed. If anyone saw me they wouldn't look at me the same. One eight pack could be seen showing how in shape my body was and I wore dark blue and yellow swim trunks. Well, I guess I had to start relaxing my attitude somewhat and this was a good way to start.

"There happy?" I asked Oliver with open arms so as to display myself.

A nod and a smile was Oliver's immediate response. "It's perfect for you Marquis. Now, let's go clean our vehicles." He then ran outside the house. I still had to get the buckets of hot water for washing. While I wasn't too thrilled about only wearing a swimsuit to wash my car, I was happy to be cleaning my vehicle mode. I hadn't hand washed it in a few weeks and, after that…race the other night I had dirt and dust everywhere on my alt mode.

 **Chorale's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

A sigh escaped my lips as I drove down the dirt road to Jasper, Nevada. Just over sixty stell…years I had called this Earth planet my new home and, sometimes, it still surprised me just how similar Earth was to Dragonia. The ecosystem, the air, the evolution of ideas…frag, even its people were similar to the Dragonians I had known. Sometimes, I would have to hold myself back from calling one of my co-stars or co-singers the name of a Dragonian that they reminded me of.

My first life here on Earth, I had been known as singer/actress Liliana Juliet Rich and I had made a name for myself. Of course, I had to create a little scandal when I had that soliform have this one I was currently in as a baby. Boy the papers had blown up about who the mystery father was. Of course, there wasn't any but that wasn't revealed to anyone. After the initial scandal was over, though, the papers loved to report about what we were doing and how the little me was growing. I had to admit that it was hard to judge how to grow up as a human but I was able to pull it off with only a few bumps in the road.

…What it wasn't like I knew that kids couldn't read their Latin at three. So sue me.

Anyways, I had discovered Jasper during my first few years here on Earth and I had come to enjoy the small town. So, I had bought a ranch a few miles outside of town and, while I didn't have any livestock on it, I enjoyed going there to just relax and drive around in my alt mode. Sometimes, I could even stay in my true form and just lay out in the middle of the desert to let the sun massage my plating. It was a very relaxing feeling.

I needed to head through town to get to my ranch and, to be honest, it was fun going down all the roads to see how everyone I had met was doing, and if there were any new people in town. It was always exciting to meet new people because I was never sure just who I was going to meet.

Pulling down my first road, I raised an eyebrow when I saw that there were two cars pulled onto the grass of one of the lawns and there was a man seemingly outside washing them down. It was strange to see a house have two very nice cars like those ones. Usually those were reserved for people who were not from small towns like Jasper. I was an oddity because I felt it was wrong to have more than my alt mode as a vehicle. It would almost be like cheating on myself.

But, back to the cars that I was slowly approaching. I didn't recognize them from my last trip to Jasper last year. That meant that this guy was new to Jasper and the only polite thing that I could do was at least see what he was like. Who knew? Maybe I could make another friend? Even though I was famous on this planet, I didn't actually have too many friends. Most people just wanted to be near me because I was famous and it was slightly depressing. I just wanted a nice group of friends that I could hang out with without having to watch my back.

When I got closer to the house, I was surprised to see that the man that I saw was lying on a lawn chair now with green rimmed sunglasses. He had a very fit body, more so than I would picture around here, and honestly he looked very relaxed. He didn't seem to have noticed me yet and so I made my way to slow down to say hi.

"Baxtre ul ic acrenkasic!" The man lying on the chair suddenly yelled while motioning to me.

What did that little brat just say?! I was not going to take being called an air helm lying down no matter how young the fragging human was. I screeched my brakes to a halt in front of the man, who sat up in seeming shock, and he started to stand as I marched up to him. "Rai nix utlan puntren ic acrenklasic? Icraset yug qartsy!"

I then turned around, fuming and having said my peace, before I got back on my vehicle mode and started my engine before starting to drive off. The nerve of that guy! Calling me an air-helm! He had no right to call me that. I hadn't been called that since Dragonia!

…Wait…Dragonia?

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I smiled as I worked on filling the next bucket of water. Once-Ler and I had been working on the cars for quite a while now and we were ready for the final rinse and, originally, I had enough water in the buckets I filled to do a complete rinse of the cars. But, Once-Ler decided to have some fun and dumped the water on me. While the water itself felt good, I was now filling up a bucket so we could finish washing our alt modes. While I was enjoying working in my swimsuit more than I thought, I would really be happy when I was back in my normal outfit.

"Baxtre ul ic acrenklasic!"

A sigh escaped me when I heard Once-Ler yell that. Once-Ler told me the other day that he enjoyed teasing humans by yelling at them in Dragonian. It wasn't very nice to do and I told him that he really shouldn't. But, I guess that it was still an ingrained habit of his that I was going to have to break. A few rounds of training in soliform would be a very good lesson. I was not a relenting person when training and he was going to have to really work hard during them. Calling humans air-helms was not nice…even if they couldn't understand what he was calling him.

However, before I could start planning his training Pit, I was taken by surprise by what happened next. "Rai nix utlan puntren ic acrenklasic? Icraset yug qartsy!"

That…that was Dragonian. And that was a female voice of Dragonian. Had, had Once-Ler just tested fate and actually tried to tease one? I found that I could not move myself from this spot and I knew that I wanted to. I just wanted to run to the front and see just who this Dragonian was. Even as I heard the sound of a motorcycle engine rev and the sound growing fainter and fainter, I couldn't snap myself out of my shock.

Well, the screeching of tires down the block and the sound of an engine racing back toward my house did though and I grabbed my bucket of water and made my way through the garage to the front of the house. I wanted to see this new Dragonian. After so long of being alone, I now had two Dragonians come into contact with me within a week. I felt like fate was looking very kindly on me.

"Once-Ler? What are you doing in Jasper? Last I heard, you were with General Aranzer and Cirkus?" I heard the same woman's voice from before ask, though this time in English.

As I neared the door to the front entrance of the garage, Once-Ler answered her. "He's here on Earth but I decided to try and locate any of our brethren who might have come to Earth as well to retreat."

"It seemed to have worked." The woman soliform laughed. From the window on my garage door, I saw that the woman talking to Once-Ler had long dark blue hair, violet eyes, and had lightly tanned skin. She wore a blue riding outfit with a white jacket. Honestly, she looked like she had just walked out of a movie. But, from what I had heard before, she was a Dragonian and I had an idea as to who it was. If I was right, I was more than just excited to see this femme. I was completely overjoyed. "So, did you buy this place yourself?" The woman asked Once-Ler.

Once-Ler shook his helm. "Nah, I didn't get that much money when I left Aranzer…General Chorale. My friend owns this place and he is letting me stay here."

I then took that as my time to walk out and so I opened the door. I was right that it was General Chorale. I was so relieved that she was alive. Way back when I heard that Chaom was offline, I had been shattered. I couldn't imagine the pain that everyone else was going through thinking that, not only Chaom was offline, but I was as well. I needed to apologize to her for putting her through all of that pain and suffering.

Both Chorale and Once-Ler turned to me and Chorale looked panicked. "Oh, hey George!" Once-Ler greeted me. What was he playing at? I looked at him with a raise eyebrow but he just smirked at me. "Say, this woman knows about Dragonia! She's one of the Generals!"

At Chorale's panicked face I realized what Once-Ler was doing and I resisted the urge to shake my head. He was teasing Chorale by making it seem like I was a human friend and didn't believe him about Dragonia.

"What are you talking about? What is this 'Dragonia' place you are speaking about? Is it from a movie about to come out?" Chorale played off like I figured she would. She must think that I was human and didn't know what Dragonia was about and worried about how I would react.

Before I could calm her down, Once-Ler put an arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry Chorale, this here is really a Dragonian as well and you know him really well! He's even a General!"

Her eyes widened in shock at Once's revelation of my status to her. I could practically see her gears turning as she tried to figure out who I was. Since Once-Ler had removed the idea that I was one of the other femmes, since he had said that 'he', as in me, is a General, then she just had to sort through the other names. Also, since Once-Ler had left Aranzer to find more of our people, I was sure that she could cross off the notion that I was Aranzer. Plus, I don't think I could live with the coloring that he had. Sorry but that was just too bright.

But, that did leave her with Scallion, Comet Gale, Vox, and myself. But, as I thought of that list, I took Comet Gale off. He wouldn't give up a flying mode for a vehicle mode and my alt mode in the drive way, which she was now studying, took that out of the question. But, Between Scallion, Vox, and myself, that alt. mode could belong to any of us. But, I was hoping that, with my accent still the same as it is in my bi-pedal mode, then, she should know that it was m…

"Vox?"

Even though it was sparkling like for me to do so, I couldn't help but sulk. I mean, sure, I was supposed to be offline, but did I really come off as Vox? The General was great, don't get me wrong, and he was one of my best friends along the other Generals, but Vox and I were not exactly twins here.

Once-Ler didn't help the matter much by bursting out in laughter, causing both Chorale and I to glare at him. "That…that was the greatest. George, you were so excited for her to guess you and then…then you just…" he couldn't finish his sentence as he continued to laugh his spark out.

After my little pouty moment, I sighed and smiled softly before walking up to her. "Maybe this will help you figure it out." I then searched my memory banks for the right phrase before giving her a hug. "Allertia chante ferri." Or, as translated from Dragonian, hello song scraplet. It was a little code name that I had for her during one of our scouting missions together and I was the only one allowed to call her that.

"Allertia mirce ferri." She responded back to me almost on what seemed like instinct. As she returned the hug. He little code name for me was miracle scraplet due to me scraping out of almost impossible situations with what looked like, to her, ease.

After a moment of allowing her to process what we just exchanged, I felt her soliform tense and she slowly backed up before looking up at me. In return, I just kept the same soft smile on my face. "Hello Chorale." I greeted her in English.

"M…Marquis? Is…is it really you?" She asked me almost hesitantly, lightly touching me to probably make sure that I wasn't just a dream.

I let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yes Chorale. I have missed you all so much."

"EEE!" She suddenly squealed before she glomped me and the two of us fell to the ground. "I'm so glad that you are online Marquis! I was so sad when Pandimala declared you offline but I am glad that you are alright! I missed you so much!"

She then started to cry and that caused me to sigh. "Chorale…I am so sorry." She then paused and looked at me in confusion before I continued. "To allow you all to suffer through so much loss with Chaom, the Revolution, our home world, and myself, I feel so responsible for keeping such a heavy burden on you all." I then pulled her back into a hug. "I am so sorry."

In return, she returned the hug before saying, "It's alright Marquis. I forgive you." We then pulled apart and she stood up before helping me up. "But now, we need to focus on finding the rest of us. Once, you say that you can get in contact with Aranzer right?"

"Yeah," Once-Ler nodded. "But, will take some time. Do you want me to fill him in on what is happening here?"

Both Chorale and I shook our heads before I took over. "No, he is safe with his organization and, with the Crassen here on Earth, we could expose him to unwanted attention and that would not be good." I then remembered what he had been doing this morning and asked, "Once-Ler, did you find out anything interesting at that pirate bar?"

Once nodded but, before he could answer, Chorale stepped in. "Pirate bar? What is this about you two?"

I smiled and realized that we should probably be inside to talk about this. "Chorale, if you want you can go inside and get some tea. Once-Ler and I need to throw some water on our alt modes so the soap won't cause problems and then we can come inside and get in some proper clothes. Then, we can figure out what is going on."

* * *

 **English to Dragonian: Words and/or phrases from this chapter only that I didn't not translate in text previous chapters or in this chapter. I believe this is all the new stuff that I haven't translated for you all yet. If it isn't, let me know and I'll correct that in the next chapter.**

 **There is a airhelm-** **Baxtre ul ic acrenklasic**

 **Who are you calling a airhelm you piece of slag? Learn some manners!-** **Rai nix utlan puntren ic acrenkalsic? Icraset yug qartsy!**

 **Hello song scraplet.-** **Allertia chante ferri.**

 **Hello miracle scraplet.-** **Allertia mirce ferri.**

* * *

 **Marquis: Oh, this is amazing! Chorale, I am so glad that you are here.**

 **Chorale: *cries* Marquis I thought that I would never get to see you again! *glomps him and starts blabbering in Dragonian***

 **Once-Ler: *sighs* *smiles* Well, this was a great chapter! After all the heck the General went through last chapter he deserved something this good happening.**

 **Authoress: *points to self* See, I can be really nice when I put my mind to it...though not so much to poor Henry. *bursts out laughing***

 **Once-Ler: *joins Authoress laughing***

 **Marquis and Chorale: *stare in confusion***

* * *

 **AN: Alrighty! Here is the next chapter for this story! A lot of things happened this chapter and I was very excited to write this for you all. Most importantly, Marquis has reunited with another General! I was so happy to write that and I can only hope you enjoyed that as well. Next chapter, with that group, Once-Ler finally gets to report about what happened at the bar and what he discovered. Too bad Scallion, Kreigan, and Issimo weren't there with them or they might have recognized Once-Ler. ;)**

 **Speaking of the bar group, I couldn't help but tease poor Henry/Cutlass some more. Getting his beer spilled on him twice by this group and then saying the same line...I just couldn't help it! Sure you can call me cruel but I can't help it. It is almost natural instinct to be cruel to someone and, since it wasn't Marquis and his group, then it had to be the bar group.**

 **Next chapter is going to have us looking at four different happenings (including Once-Ler's report) and I am definitely excited about writing it. I'll probably get started as soon as this one is posted. It probably won't be quite as long as this one but, who knows? I didn't plan on this chapter being this long. I know this story seems to be very Decepticon absent but they will be mainly playing a big role in the second half of this story though Knockout will be making another appearance before that.**

 **That's all I really have to say for now. Please enjoy reading and please leave a review. I don't even care if it is to just say hello but it let's me know that people are enjoying (or maybe not *shrugs shoulders* ) this story. Until next time though TTYL! *Enjoy's watching footage of Once-Ler versus Henry/Cutlass again and again***


	9. The Sound of Silence

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Sarah: I am very suspicious.**

 **Authoress: *confused* About what?**

 **Sarah: *motions to room where she can't go with Oliver's name on it* How in the hell did George keep that hot of a man secret from me?**

 **Authoress: *facepalms* That's really the most worrisome thing on your mind right now? Really?**

 **Sarah: *shrugs* What? I gotta say what I have up in my head now don't I?**

 **Authoress: *shakes head* No not really.**

 **Sarah:...Oh. *blushes madly at what she said***

* * *

Ch. 9: The Sound of Silence

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I felt my eyebrow twitch in irritation as I sat in my new office, which we had recently coated so it could be used as another arrival point for our soliforms. But, back to the point that I was making, I felt irritation coursing through me as I watched the security footage for the third time. I couldn't believe that I was really watching this on the new footage. This was a complete déjà vu from the incident in Carson City and I felt like I was going to be blowing a gasket soon.

"So, let me get this straight." I addressed everyone as they stood around my desk, though in reality I was really just talking to the four who were present at the time that this occurred…my Buccaneers. "This stranger comes in at around nine thirty yesterday morning and orders a dark and stormy. Charms Galleon to talk with him for hours until you, Galleon, notice his guitar and let him audition for an opening act that we don't even have for sure…am I correct?"

Galleon nodded. Kreigan, Issimo, and I had taken longer than I had thought we would looking for energon and had spent the night in a cave reminiscing about our past on Dragonia and our experiences since its destruction. So, we didn't return to our warehouse until this morning and, when I got back here, the first thing that I am greeted with is Drakkar telling me that Cutlass got into a fight with a musician and the musician wasn't normal.

So, I had watched the video the first time through, with everyone present here, and something seemed familiar about it but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had watched a few times more but still nothing was clicking where it should.

"Correct." Galleon responded. "Something seemed different about this guy and I felt like we might need him as a contact later. What better way to get his number than a performance callback? I mean, he was the one trying to hit on me so I couldn't just give in and give my number to him."

Ture. I had to allow my Buccaneer their pride and Galleon just giving her number to the man or simply asking for it outright would be a blow to that pride. And a big one for Galleon given all of the men that had hit on her over the centuries that I had known her. Well, on both her and her sister but we were talking about Galleon, not Caravel.

"So," I started to continue. "you call Caravel up to listen to this man play a song. From the footage you sent me from your recording it sounds good." Yeah, Caravel had told a small lie to the man in saying that I could hear him over the security footage. I was a cheap man who didn't want to pay for having audio enabled cameras. Plus, if one of us slipped something about Dragonia, I didn't want the cameras to pick up on it. Speaking of that, though, insulating the rest of the bar was on my list of things to get done today just in case we made an ally and they wanted to talk in the bar. It would look strange if I let too many people up and I didn't have the funds to fake hire too many more people like I did Issimo and Kreigan.

"Yes, and I came down just over half way through his performance." Drakkar cut in. "He played the piece well, but I felt like he was up to something with being here. He kept studying the three of us while he was singing and I felt that he was just as curious about us as we were him. But, I don't recognize the man. Once he finished, Galleon told him that she would let you listen to the footage and decide about what we were going to do with letting him perform. He gave us a name and number we could use to get a hold of him when Galleon asked."

I then picked up said piece of paper and studied it. "Yes, it is for a man called Oliver Lercone and his contact number is listed here." However, I found my eyebrows furrowing as I studied the number. That déjà vu was coming back and was hitting me hard. I had seen that blasted thing before and yet I couldn't remember where from! "So, please explain to me how that fight happened?" Even though it really wasn't a fight. The man had dodged Cutlass' attack.

Cutlass let out a grumble as the twins laughed before saying, "I had heard the music from the storage room and thought I would see who was playing. I had a stein of rum that I was almost done with and so I brought it with me. But, when I get up behind the flashy fragger he backs up and spills my rum on me! I was just in shock about this happening again and I asked the fragger why he couldn't watch where he was going."

"So, what did he say to cause you to try and fight him?" I pressed on.

Cutlass twitched and flexed his hands…which caused poor Issimo who was standing next him, to slide closer to Kreigan. "That little creep has the gall to say that same blasted line that George fellow said. 'You know, they say that you can tell the strength of a pirate from the hold he has on his drink of rum. Seeing as you got yours knocked out so easily…well…'. Almost word for word of what George Lafayette said to me! I got angry and lunged at the twig. But, the guy had to be some kind of acrobat because he flat jumped to springboard off my head with his hand and flipped over me before he ran out the door. I tried to throw my stein at him to stop him but I was slightly off target."

"You threw your stein at him? That wasn't very nice." Issimo commented from next to Kreigan.

Cutlass threw him a look but Kreigan's return look caused Cutlass to hesitate before he stayed silent. Thankfully, before my mind could blow up with all of these explosions of coincidences and reoccurrences and déjà vu, Kreigan spoke to me. "Scallion, could I see the man in the video?"

I wasn't sure what good it was going to do but I nodded and turned the monitor toward him and Issimo before restarting the file that Galleon had sent me. Both he and Issimo watched the video and, at first, there wasn't a reaction. But, to my surprise, it was not Kreigan but Issimo who showed a look of recognition. "Issimo, what is it?" I encouraged.

Issimo stared at the security video for another moment before saying, "I recognize that guy…but not as a human." What was Issimo getting at?

Kreigan must have been curious as well. "Issimo, please give a clear answer. I can't recognize this guy even not as a human. Who is he to you?"

Issimo glanced at the recording again and seemed to reassure himself before answering us, "I might just be seeing things, but that guy looks a lot like Once-Ler."

Once-Ler? I took a double take at the footage and felt my eyes widen when I tried to compare the man in the footage to the last known image that I had on Once-Ler. It was an almost perfect match.

"Once-Ler? Who is that?" Caravel asked with confusion written on her face.

I looked at my other Buccaneers and, while I told them a lot, I realized that I had not told them about Once-Ler. So, I sat down at the chair behind my desk and motioned for the others to pull up the chairs around the room to my desk. After much scraping later, five chairs were in a semi-circle around my desk…Issimo sat on Kreigan's lap. I was glad that those two were here so they could help me tell Once-Ler's story.

"Once-Ler is a very interesting case. Even though he is a Dragonian these days, when us Dragonians first met him he was the enemy. At first, we thought that he was like most Crassen were and fought us with the hopes of wiping us out so we couldn't challenge the council. But, General Marquis fought him one day and discovered something. Once-Ler was not in control of his own actions." I started to answer.

"What do you mean? How could he not be in control?" Drakkar questioned.

Kreigan turned to the others and answered. "During the Revolution, a program was started in the Crassen ranks. We had learned that the Crassen had started a special project to create enhanced soldiers with advanced weapons simply to take us out. They were called Virons and their leader was a mech called Contagion. During that time, though, we discovered from Once-Ler that the project was a system control device that forced neutrals to fight for them against us. Their numbers would have spiked if it wasn't for General Marqius and Once-Ler."

I nodded and took over. "Yes. General Marquis was stationed in Battle Lake, which was a few leagues out of Lane Crossing, the capital city of Lectran, and he had been tasked with taking down any Virons that came into his path. This was, of course, before we learned that these early Virons did not have a choice. Eventually, he ran into Once-Ler and they started to go at it. During the fight, General Marquis realized that Once-Ler was fighting something internally and tried to find a cause. He soon identified a device on Once-Ler's shoulder and knew that he had to get it off without risking Once-Ler's life. He of course, was at a dam and there were power couplings. Right when it looked like Once-Ler was going to trap Marquis, Marquis ripped a power coupling away from the wall and slammed it against the devise. The coupling left a burn but it did the trick by destroying the device."

I then pulled up an old picture of Once-Ler from my memory banks and projected it onto the screen before turning it to the others to look at. It showed how Once-Ler looked and seeing the picture was another awakening that he was more than likely here in Jasper.

"Once-Ler was very grateful to General Marquis for saving him and, after a day, Marquis made him his aide-de-kamp." Kreigan took over again. "Once-Ler is a really great bot but he was stubborn about that fragging burn. He refused to let anyone heal it beyond making sure that he didn't get it infected. Said that it was a reminder of what the Crassen forced him to do. Anyways, the Viron program was exposed thanks to Once-Ler's conversion so the program was forced to undergo a change. These days, while thankfully lower in numbers than it was before, the Virons are now comprised of fully willing Crassen who are sparkles in their dealings. They are merciless and if you are ever confronted with one, you run while calling back-up. Issimo is to just run no matter what."

There was silence as my Buccaneers absorbed the information about Once-Ler. He was an interesting case study as a Dragonian and him being here was what we needed to help build our numbers. Due to his closeness with General Marquis, Once-Ler has become a very influential figure after the destruction of Cybertron. Sometimes he didn't even realize how influential he has become. Last I heard, he was with Aranzer and Cirkus and that was the best place for him to be. There were many Dragonians under Aranzer and would help draw more support to Aranzer.

So what was Once-Ler doing here in Jasper? There weren't any circuses in town so Aranzer couldn't be nearby…unless George Lafayette was Aranzer. It would make a lot of sense if George was Aranzer and was scouting out this town before bringing the rest of his group here. But, I couldn't say that George was Aranzer for sure until I met with him. But, if he wasn't Aranzer, that would make me curious as to why Once-Ler was not with Aranzer.

But, that wouldn't be questioned until I could get Once-Ler in here. "Caravel, get on the phone and call…" I started as I held up the paper with the number. Like lightning, the memory of where I had seen that number came to me. Just to make sure, I pulled up the file in my head before I smiled. "Call this Oliver Lercone and tell him that I would like for him to come in tomorrow afternoon around three thirty and play for me personally. Also, tell him that he can bring any friend or friends that he wants."

They all nodded and left besides Kreigan. Issimo was going to go somewhere with the girls and this would give Kreigan and I time to talk. "Why are you telling him to bring friends?" Kreigan asked me.

I smirked and held up the scrap of paper with the phone number. "It's because of this." I then pointed to the name first. "I realized, after Issimo pointed out that this man has a high chance of being Once-Ler, that this man's last name spells out Once-Ler without the dash. But, what was more important was this." I then pointed to the phone number that was underneath it.

Kreigan stared at the number in confusion before turning back to me. "What's so important about his phone number? Is there some sort of hidden General code imbedded in the numbers?"

Laughter came out of me before I could stop it. No, it wasn't a secret code that we were looking for. Actually, it was a lot simpler than that. "No, there is not some code in the number. It's the number itself. I've seen it before here on Earth…and recently too." I then pulled up the old footage of when George Lafayette was at our bar in Carson City and let Kreigan watch it. After he was done, I said, "That is the man who lives here that is a General. When we looked him up, we did find out where he lives but I am afraid that if we approach him that he might get spooked and run before I can assure him that I am a General as well. However, we do have his information." I then motioned to the number. "This number is the same as George's. This could be the best way to get George to the bar and get Once-Ler known to us and us to him as well."

Kreigan nodded. "Yes, that was a good idea and I think that you are right. Are you going to call him today?"

I glanced at my clock at Kreigan's suggestion and I frowned that it was eight thirty. I knew that there was school and, if George was a teacher then he was at the school and I didn't want him home when I called Once-Ler. It would keep our conversation short and allow Once-Ler time to think about bringing George. It would make him more likely to ask George to come along.

But, I had a feeling that Once-Ler wouldn't be awake yet. He never got into the army late to bed early to rise routine. It was always interesting to have to move from a camp early in the morning when Once-Ler was with us. "I'll call him at ten. If he is still like he was when I knew him, Once-Ler is probably still in recharge." I then stared at the number before feeling hope. We were all starting to come together and it was my hope that, one solar cycle, the remaining Generals could reunite as one again. When that solar cycle comes, we will be ready to challenge the Crassen again for our rights as a separate people

 **Sarah's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I chewed on the end of my pen as I stared at the clock in front of me. My students were taking a test on musical composers and I was letting my mind wonder as they took their tests. While I really liked Oliver, I was suspicious of him. Who meets a guy only once at a conference and then have any sort of hope that person will let you into their home to live? I mean, George is a great guy but he doesn't just let anyone into his house. This was bothering the hell out of me and I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

When I had walked in to that dinner, I was surprised as all heck to see that hottie standing in the kitchen with that kiss the cook apron and messy black hair and…

Moving my mind out of the unnaturally good looks of George's mysterious-to-me friend, I thought back to that dinner. Both he and George had seemed very slow and deliberate when answering my questions and, while I had wanted to continue questioning them on their friendship, my musical curiosity got the best of me and I asked Oliver what his background in music was. Since he was a teacher, I knew that I could get to know him better if I had him in my class. So, I offered that he be my teacher's aide for at least a day.

That, no matter how much I didn't trust George's friend, was one of the best decisions that I had ever made. The day that I had him in here we were working on classical music and I was having problems getting the students interested in the music. Right when I had given up, Oliver grabbed one of the violins from the back of the classroom and sat on my desk before leading the class in doing a cover of Ode to Joy. That was the most playing that I had ever seen in my students. Yesterday, when Oliver couldn't come to class, there was actually a slight depressive mood and I had to admit that I was just as depressed as my students were that the mystery man wasn't able to come.

But, I was still confused as to his connection with George. Something wasn't adding up with his and George's story. I remembered that conference and, while I couldn't go to it, I hadn't thought that there was a section on music in the presentation listings. Of course, there could have been a last minute add on that didn't get into the listings but I was finding them all very fishy.

But, that man could play music like he was born to do it. It was almost riveting just how well Oliver Lercone could entice music out of an instrument. The way his fingers moved against the strings and seemed to almost entice the music to come out. With all my suspicions of Oliver…he really was a hunk.

"Ms. Anderson?"

I flinched and moved my pen away from my mouth when I heard one of my students speak and I looked up to see that everyone had turned in their tests and were waiting for me to continue. That damn friend of George's was distracting me too much. But, my thoughts were so confused right now that I knew that I wouldn't be able to teach class efficiently so I did something I hadn't done all year. "Alright, I'll have these graded by Monday. For the rest of the period, have a study hall but keep the noise to a minimum. Otherwise we will start looking at music theory."

That caused a reaction in the way of everyone to run out of the classroom to get books out of their lockers. Once they were all out of the room, I let out a sigh and placed a hand against my head. That Oliver…he was distracting me and I couldn't tell if I liked it or not. But, what I did know was that I needed to figure out what he and George were hiding from me. And I would find out one way or another. When I put my mind to something, there wasn't anything that I couldn't do.

 **Optimus' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

So far, everything at the base was running smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it could with Sentinel Major here at the base. While I knew that we had to work together as one cohesive unit against the Decepticons, I was starting to question his actions. The largest case in point being our recent altercation with the strange colony planet Dragonians.

In my memories, I remembered the struggle that was facing the planet and, back then, I had actually wanted to enlist. However, Alpha Trion had recently become my tutor and had advised strongly against getting involved. He never told me directly why I shouldn't, but he made reference to this fight being a lot more powerful than most realized. So, I had listened to his advice and avoided having to go to Dragonia.

During my fight with the one called Scallion, who according to the files I looked up after our skirmish was actually a General in their army, he revealed that, according to their records, us Cybertronians were responsible for the slaughter of thousands of their citizens. When he had said that, I had been shocked and had stepped back to observe how they were fighting. It was purely defensive to protect the one called Issimo.

That was another issue that was troubling me. Issimo had looked terrified to be anywhere near the battle and that was not the reaction of most warriors. Even with an injury like the one that Issimo was sporting warriors would be on the defensive. That motorcycle mech didn't even look like he could hold his blaster steady.

When we had returned to base, Sentinel had shown his opposition to my decision to allow the Dragonians to withdraw with very heated words. When he and Pitch had given me their reports on what happened before the rest of us got there, the two of them had gone off to their rooms.

When I received everyone else's reports, though, something wasn't quite adding up. Sentinel and Pitch had injuries on them, but from what everyone saw, they were only caused by that hammer that Kreigan mech was using. There weren't any cuts from any blades that Issimo might have had and there weren't any blaster injuries…or any missed scorch marks in the area.

From what I could see of the Dragonian's leg injury, Issimo had been injured with a blade. That would have meant close combat and I feel like the small bot would have fought back when backed into that far of a corner. But, there were none of those injuries on either Pitch or Sentinel when the rest of us had arrived.

After the Dragonian War was lost by the colonists, their kind was spread throughout the galaxies and that sector of space was closed off. I tried to ask Alpha Trion about it but he always found ways to get around my questions. Some of them, however, had been captured by the council and brought to Cybertron to face trial. I remember one time in particular when Megatronus had taken me to the gladiator pits to show me what the Gladiator Pits were really like. They were terrible and I knew that they needed to be stopped. But, it was also there that I saw my first Dragonian and I knew that moment had affected me as much as it had probably done Megatronus.

Now that I thought about it, I feel like Megatron was inspired to go against the council by the Dragonian that we saw that solar cycle. With this second case as proof, I knew that interacting with a Dragonian was something that changed you no matter what you tried to do to prevent it. Thinking back to the previous encounter with them, I realized that the look that General Scallion had on his faceplate when he brought up the slaughtered villages was completely genuine. I was going to be digging into our database to see if I could find out anything about Dragonia. They were starting to become players in this fight on Earth and I wanted to understand them better.

"Optimus," I turned to see Blackarachnia and Ratchet walk up to me. Ratchet, who had spoken, continued, "I'm worried."

"What is it old friend?" I asked him with worry.

"It's MECH." Ratchet started. "Their attempt at capturing the children on their field excursion showed that they must have something planned that they are trying to complete. But, they haven't done anything recently."

A nod was my response as I took in his worry. He wasn't the only one that was worried either. Agent Fowler had called the other solar cycle and said that he was worried because they hadn't popped up on anyone's radar since the event in Carson City. He was on edge and wanted us to keep an optic open for any sort of trouble.

"I agree. Their lack of activity has been a cause of worry for myself as well. But, until they make their move, we can only wait." I answered him.

Blackarachnia nodded and crossed her arms. "Do these humans really have the capability of hiding themselves from Cybertronian technology? I mean, I've see what human technology is capable of and it doesn't seem that impressive."

A sigh almost escaped me but I was able to keep myself composed. "Blackarachnia, you must not underestimate the humans, both our allies and our enemies. I've watched their technology come through when needed and we have been able to use human technology to keep up our fight with the Decepticons. So, it is highly possible for human technology to allow MECH to continue to hide from us."

She seemed to study me for a click before nodding. "You are correct. I apologize for underestimating the local species of this planet."

Shaking my helm, I placed a servo on her shoulder. "There is nothing to apologize for Blackarachnia. You simply asked a questioned. Now, you just have to learn from the answer that I gave you and use it."

She nodded and the three of us then started to discuss what the next few patrol groups were going to be like. However, I could not get the nagging worry about MECH's plans out of my helm. They were planning something intricate and I wanted to be prepared for whatever they might bring.

 **Once-Ler's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Do you think I can finally do my report now?" I questioned as Chorale, Marquis, and I sat in his living room.

We were supposed to talk about my scavenging at the bar the other day yesterday but, after Marquis and I had finished cleaning off our alt modes, we had gone in and gotten changed but Marquis had fallen asleep. I think there were too many good things happening to him these past few weeks and his systems finally had to shut down. But, that was my opinion and I wasn't completely sure on that.

Of course, now I had more to add to that report thanks to a very timely phone call that I got this morning from Jane. I felt like this was going to be the best report that I have ever been able to give Marquis. Hopefully didn't overload him with goodness. That wouldn't be so great.

George leaned back on his couch and nodded. "Yes, I think I can stay awake long enough to get your report now. Sorry about that yesterday Once. I just really needed a recharge and it hit me."

I let out a laugh at General Marquis before I finally started. "Okay, so the first thing I have to say is that the people who are running this bar are the same people who ran the bar in Carson City." I saw a smirk twitch on George's lips before I continued. "They said they came here for a change of pace. But, I did audition to be an opening act for a show they want to have put on. But, they haven't been able to ask the main singer yet."

"Oh no they did." Chorale interrupted me. "The bar called me early this morning when you were both out shopping and I did say that I would perform one night for them. I talked to a Horatio Booth and man did that guy have a deep voice. I haven't heard a voice that low since Zantor and, while this guy wasn't that low, he was down there."

George nodded. "So, while I didn't talk to a General when they were in Carson City, I think that there is a General working that bar. That Henry guy must have told him the code that I whispered to him and he came here to find me. Nice to know that they would move so quickly just for me." He let out a laugh at the end of that. "Of course, Chorale proved that they probably don't realize that it is me. Maybe they think I'm Vox too?"

I then joined George in his laughing for a few clicks but stopped when I noticed that Chorale was not finding it as funny…though she had a small smile on her faceplate. After a few coughs to calm myself down, I continued my story. "Anyways, I then turned to leave but ended up bumping into that Henry McCallister guy that you got into a fight with at the bar in Carson City."

"Please don't tell me that you spilled his rum on him?" George asked me in an almost pleading way.

While I didn't want to disappoint the General, I was going to have to be the bearer of bad news on this one. "Sorry sir but it had to be that way. I didn't know he had the rum in his hands if that helps any?" At the sigh that Marquis gave followed by the facepalm, I had a feeling that it was not so helpful. "Anyways, he asked if that had actually happened again and then asked me directly why I couldn't watch were I was going…" I then drifted off and wondered if I should tell Marquis this next part.

Marquis raised his eyebrow at me and tapped his fingers against the side of the couch. "What did you say Once-Ler?" He gave me a very knowing look that I knew I was not going to get away with delaying anything.

"Oh, well, then. I said the same line that you told him about telling the strength of a pirate by his hold on his rum. Well, he wasn't exactly happy about that and came at me. I vaulted over his head before I made a beeline for the door. Man I was relieved when I got out that door. Pretty sure that he threw a stein at me. It missed me but it hit the wall next to my head. I got to you, Marquis, and you know the rest." I then paused as this morning returned to me. "Actually, before you got home Marquis, and while you were out taking care of your alt mode Chorale, I got a call from Jane at the bar saying that they want me to come in tomorrow. She also said that I could bring my friends."

Chorale looked confused at that statement before saying, "But, they don't know that I bought that house across the way."

I was going to explain the situation that I through could be the case to Chorale when Marquis not-surprisingly figured it out quickly and responded. "They don't know about you Chorale, but they have figured out that Oliver is staying here with George Lafayette. They called the home line and that means that, if I am right and they have moved here to find me and that there is a General with them, then they have done research on me and have access to my number. They are trying to draw me out. Plus, if they have a Dragonian General with them, then they are probably also now aware that Once-Ler is with me. Of course, Once-Ler's soliform was very close in resemblance to his actual form and the General should be able to tell who Once-Ler here is."

A nod was my response to Marquis' observation. He was right on the credit, as he usually was. These events were very good signs to a brighter future and I was glad to be with the front lines. "So, how are we going to do this tomorrow?" I asked them.

I almost felt giddy when Marquis let a wicked smirk and motioned Chorale and I closer to him as he moved to the floor. Immediately, Chorale and I moved in tandem to join Marquis on the carpeted floor and I sat cross-legged to listen to the General's plan. Honestly, I was surprised that there were three generals within this town. That seems to almost break the odds but here we stand…or sit as the case may be.

Now, it was time for Dragonia to rise from the ashes of its destruction and earn the freedoms that we originally started this long fight for. Having one General on your side was a danger to your enemies, no matter how much they outnumbered you. Having two Generals meant that you had the advantage no matter what and that was what I sat in a room with right now. However, if we had three Generals like we were thinking we might have soon, why they could take on every single Crassen on this planet. Once we got Generals Aranzer and Jabberwocky, who was with Aranzer and Cirkus, with the possible three we were about to have, that would be five out of the remaining eight Generals United together. That, in human comparison, would be like taking all nuclear weapons on the planet and giving them to one power.

Dragonia was going to live again, if not in actual planet then in the sparks of its supporters. Of that I was positive and I was going to be on those front lines.

…I couldn't wait.

* * *

 **Marquis: *smirks* I have a very good feeling about next chapter. I'm liking all the calm.**

 **Chorale: *smiles* Me too Marquis. And to think, Once-Ler got to hog you for so many chapters before me. It's almost unfair. *pouts***

 **Once-Ler: Oh, don't be like that Chorale. At least you were the first General to know that he is alive.**

 **Chorale: *smile returns bigger* You're right! I can't believe I didn't realize that! *runs off***

 **Once-Ler: *sighs* Yep, still an airhelm. Guess millions of years really can't change some bots.**

 **Chorale: *in doorway**cracks knuckle joints* What was that Once-Ler?**

 **Once-Ler: Oh scrap. *bolts out with Chorale chasing him***

 **Authoress: *Walks in* Do I even want to know?**

 **Marquis: *shakes his helm* No, I really don't think you do.**

* * *

 **AN: Well, there is the end to this chapter! I know these chapters don't have a lot of action but I promise that action will be coming up soon. *glances at notes* Yes, soon indeed. I won't say when exactly but all of this pre-work will make sense once I get to the action...hopefully. XD Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter. Seems like everyone is worried about something for the most part. Plus, Optimus seems to be growing suspicious about what he knows about the Dragonian War (which is what the Crassen call the Dragonian Revolution) and Ratchet is worried about MECH. Will either of these concerns be brought to something important? Who knows? *whistles innocently***

 **Also, Sarah seems very suspicious of George and Oliver and she feels like they are hiding something from her. They wouldn't do something like that... Anyways, I wonder what sort of role Sarah will play in all of this and where it will lead to?**

 **The final part of the story that I want to touch on is that of Cirkus...and more importantly Aranzer and Jabberwocky. They will have more active roles in the future but, until I can get the circus to town, Cirkus will be mentioned at best. But, I do agree with Once-Ler in that, once all the Generals on this planet come together, then there will be no force on Earth or Cybertron that will be prepared for them. Just to remind everyone of the Generals, I'll list them to what Marquis knows.**

 **Pandimala-Chief General-Online-Location Unknown**

 **Chaom-General (faux Chief General)-Offline**

 **Vox-General-Online-Location Unknown**

 **Scallion-General-Online-Location Unknown**

 **Chorale-General-Online-Location: Jasper, Nevada (neighbor)**

 **Comet Gale-General-Online-Location Unknown**

 **Marquis-General-(well obviously online since he knows himself)**

 **Aranzer-General-Online-Location: Earth (Once-Ler can find out where exactly)**

 **Jabberwocky-General-Online-Location: Earth (Once-Ler can find out where exactly)**

 **Out of the Generals with an Unknown location, he knows one is in Jasper but isn't sure which one it is. I will update this little chart when he finds out the fates and/or locations of each General on this list. Plus who knows? The list may change down the road. (Though that is highly unlikely)**

 **That is all I have to say for now though. Please leave a review to tell me how you liked this chapter...or this story so far...or to say hi. Just note that flames will be used to torch Sentinel Major and Pitch to a point where even the Pit wouldn't go. Until next time, TTYL! *puts on rainbow wig and starts singing about a circus***


	10. A Triad Emerges

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Authoress: Well, this has been a very busy few weeks.**

 **Marquis: I would say that would be true. But, you have been sick and so I need you to get to bed now.**

 **Authoress: *whines* But I don't want to!**

 **Chorale: Go to bed!**

 **Authoress: *'goes to bed'***

* * *

Ch. 10: A Triad Emerges

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

My nerves seemed to be all out of whack as I helped the others clean up the bar. Today was the day. Oliver Lercone, who I was sure was Once-Ler, was going to be coming here to 'audition' for a part as an opening act to Christine Rich. But, I was sure that I was just going to give him the part anyways. If he was Once-Ler, then his skills with musical instruments was one that had very few rivals. He was going to be great and of that I was sure.

But, I was even more excited by a hope that I had. Since the man I was sure was Once-Ler was staying in the same home that George Lafayette lived, and since we told 'Oliver' that he could bring a friend, then I was hoping that he would bring Lafayette. The more I thought about the man who was really a Dragonian General, the more I was sure that he was Aranzer.

Out of all the remaining Generals, I was sure that Aranzer would have been the only one who would have kept up with the training that Pandimala and Chaom taught us. Plus, with my earlier observation, Once-Ler is a very popular Dragonian due to his closeness with the late General Marquis and Aranzer's recruiting operation, I was sure that the two of them would stick together once they found each other. So, now we just had to wait to see when they would arrive at the bar.

Unfortunately, Galleon hadn't given Once-Ler a certain time that he had to show up today so it was a rush to clean up the bar because, technically, Once-Ler and George Lafayette could show up any nano-click and I wanted my home to look nice for them when they arrived.

"Hey Scallion can you help me move this?" Kreigan asked me from the other side of the room.

Thankfully, I had also decided to just insulate the entire bar so we could talk freely inside. I knew that there were some risks in doing that but the rewards were worth it. We could now talk freely about Dragonia and we could use our real designations as long as no one outside of our group was in the bar. At this time, since it was two thirty in the afternoon, there wasn't much of a chance that we would get a customer.

Looking over to Kreigan, I nodded and went to help him hold up one of the long tables while Issimo, Galleon, and Caravel cleaned up under it. Last night, the customers had gotten a little rowdy when we announced that, sometime soon, Christine Rich was going to be preforming here. There was a lot of beer and rum sloshed out of their steins last night and that meant a sticky floor today. Thankfully, the cleanup was almost over with underneath this table the worst that was left.

"Scallion," I looked to Drakkar as he started to walk toward me. He must have finished patching up that hole that Kreigan made last night. My mind flashed to the scene were someone had tripped Issimo and I quickly left that memory before I remembered the ensuing fight. "we have a problem. The land manager just called and said that he needs you and I to come meet him for the taxes."

A sigh escaped me at that before I glanced up at the clock. I had a feeling that we would probably be missing a part of Once-Ler's performance but, if Drakkar and I hurried up, then we might make it back in time to hear him sing. Also, I wanted to make sure that I was there to see the General that would most likely come with Once-Ler. But, that meant that I had to get moving. "Alrighty then. You all hold down the bar until Drakkar and I get back. I'm hoping that this won't take long but make sure to keep Once-Ler and whoever he brings here until we get back. If they get here before I get back, let them play their piece and link me in over the comm link."

"You got it captain!" Galleon confirmed vocally with a smile.

I knew that the bar was in good hands so I moved with Drakkar toward the back. I had parked my alt mode back there this morning so I wouldn't give away who I was to whoever was coming. My coloring was pretty noticeable and I don't think the other generals would like it one bit. So, they would know it was me and, to be honest, I was hoping to surprise the General coming, and maybe even Once-Ler, as to what my identity was.

Once the two of us made it outside, I hopped into my driver's seat and, once Drakkar was inside, I started my engine before driving to our land manager's house. He, of course, lived on the opposite side of town and he liked to talk. Hopefully, Drakkar and I could keep him on track so we could get back to the bar. Today was going to be the day that I was able to reunite with Once-Ler and, more than likely, another Dragonian General and I would not be happy if I was late to a meeting that I had arranged myself.

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Nerves. That was all I felt as Chorale, Once-Ler, and I rode in Once-Ler's alt mode to this meeting at the pirate bar. After school had let out, I had to run home since that was where I was meeting Chorale and Once-Ler. When I had gotten there, we had wasted no time in getting into Once-Ler's alt mode and making our way here. I felt like the world was going way too fast for me right now, but, at the same time, I didn't care. I was to be reunited with another Dragonian General…after all this time.

But, I was completely nervous for this at the same time. With my introduction to Chorale a few days ago, I knew that the General in the bar had a chance of not recognizing me…and it scared me. When Chorale had called me Vox, I had felt pain. While I had known that they had declared me offline and her reaction was standard, it had still hurt. I was forgotten. It struck me deep in my spark. Now, I was going to face the same risk when I met with the General at this bar. I wasn't sure who it was yet, but I was sure that I would be able to figure it out once I saw them.

Even though the pain of unrecognition among my family was a possibility that I had to live with for now, it was nothing compared to the pain that I had left them all to face. Vos…Vos had betrayed us. That had been my home city-state before I became a Dragonian and I had been so excited when they had made the alliance with Dragonia. The two parts of my life, my past as a Vosnian and my present as a Dragonian had come together to fight the Crassen.

…And then we were betrayed. I still remember when I had been a revered member of society in ancient Sumer and being called solemn because that was all I could really wrap my helm around during that time. I was sure that one of the few things that kept me from just immersing myself completely with humanity and deciding to stay on Earth forever, besides my promise to Pandimala, was the sense of responsibility that I felt. Sure, I knew that Pandimala and the consulate had been working on an alliance with Vos before I even came into the picture…but I was the General from Vos. I had once even been called Pandimala's 'Vosnian pet'.

I had taken that as a compliment back during the Revolution. But, now it was just a reminder of the pain that I had left everybot to face. My processor couldn't even imagine the pain that my Selanitra was going through at this click. Chaom…a dear friend and close confidant to me, had been so much more to Pandimala. She had confided in me that her and Chaom had been planning to bond and for that to be ripped away from her by the Crassen Starscream…a Vosnian…I knew that she was in immense pain.

"Marquis are you alright?"

Jumping at the sound of Chorale's voice, I turned to see her staring at me with a concerned look. I was alright…just dealing with all of this guilt. So I nodded andd smiled. "Yes Chorale…I'm just a little nervous about this meeting. I left you all with so much pain…"

I stopped talking as she put a hand on my shoulder before smiling softly. "Marquis, you can't blame yourself for that. You were given a secret mission by Chaom and you couldn't refuse that…and you wouldn't even if you could. Your respect for Chaom and Pandimala went higher than even us other Generals could really match…and we admire that about you." Her grip on my shoulder then tightened slightly. "While it was hard getting through the loss of the Revolution, we had time to heal. You have been isolated and alone on Earth for millions of stellar cycles and have had to struggle each and every solar cycle…not knowing the fate of those you cared about. As much as you try and deny it Marquis, you have suffered more than most of us…besides Pandimala. Do not let guilt take over your stunning character. You are a light for all of us and I don't know what I would do if it truly went out."

Chorale always did know what to say. I was glad that she was with me right now. Both her and Once-Ler were the perfect bots to help me right now.

With renewed confidence, I sat up straighter and smiled. "Then, we have some lost time to make up for and a General who needs to be brought into the loop of information about me being online." I then let out a laugh.

The two of them joined me and we kept laughing until we finally pulled to a stop in front of the pirate bar. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was a few min…clicks ago but I still felt nervous about this meeting. Would I recognize the General? As I got out of Once-Ler's alt mode, and grabbed an instrument that I brought along, I took a chance to read the name of the bar…something that I had been a little too busy to do last time.

"The Dragon Keep Bar?" Chorale commented on the name of the bar before she smirked. "Well, I guess it would be weird if it was a Dragonian General's bar and it didn't have the word dragon in it."

I nodded, a matching smirk on both my face and that of Once-Ler's, before the three of us moved toward the main door and, after a nano-click, I grabbed the doorknob and gently turned it before leading our group inside.

To my surprise, there was no one to be seen. But, the bar itself was clean and quaint. Near the far wall was a performance stage with a piano and three microphones. They must have known that I was coming with Once-Ler, and hoped that I might use the piano. While the piano was a beautiful instrument, it was not one of my favorites and that was why I decided to bring along a violin that I had been given by a very strange pirate whose crew was just was strange and unique as he was. The man who gave me this was also the one who introduced me to the song that we planned to perform today and would give the General here a hint as to at least how long I had been on this planet. Of course, it technically wouldn't be close to the actual time frame, it would be enough until the introductions were out of the way.

"I'll be taking that." Chorale affirmed as she hopped onto the stage, Once-Ler following, and made her way over to the piano before sitting at it. When we had discussed the plan at my house, I wasn't sure what instruments that they would provide for Once-Ler and his guests but we had hoped that they would have a piano. Chorale hadn't liked my other instruments that I had saved…since I was using the violin, and so we were banking on the hope that they had an instrument here for her to play. But, since there was only one instrument provided, I had a feeling that this General did not know that there would be three of us coming.

While Chorale adjusted to the piano and Once-Ler tuned his guitar, I placed the violin case on the ground before unlocking it. Memories from one of my past lives flashed through my mind after I opened the case and the smell of the aged, though still almost pristine looking violin, came out of the case and hit my nose. This violin…the last time that I had taken it out to play was in the early 1800's and, ironically, the last song that I had played on it was the song that the three of us were going to be preforming now. Thankfully, I had sent them all sheet music…edited for Once-Ler to use with his guitar, and I hoped that this song would impact the General here as much that it would me.

Placing the bow against the strings of the violin, I carefully grazed the violin's strings to check the tuning of the old instrument. Thankfully, only a few tweaks were going to be needed. So, I carefully set to work fixing the sound quality. If I was going to introduce myself to another Dragonian…and a General at that, then I was going to make sure that this performance was as perfect as I could possibly.

Right when I finished tuning my violin, the sound of a door opening caused the three of us to look toward the kitchen doors and I felt my eyes widen slightly in surprise at what I saw. Instead of anyone that I had interacted up to this point walking out…or anyone that reminded me of one of the Generals for that matter…a small young man who was maybe twenty-two or twenty-three in age walked out with a large bowl of pasta cradled in his arms.

The new man's almost sparkling like attitude that he seemed to exude along with his strange dark blue military uniform that he was wearing were ringing like alarm bells in my processor but I couldn't seem to connect where this man was familiar to me. "Oh hello! You all must be the people coming to sing! My name is Luciano Ricci and I just started working here. We don't get too busy but we are glad that you all are here. Mr. McFain and Mr. Booth had to go do something about taxes and Mr. McCallister, Ms. Bellamy, and Ms. Bellamy had an emergency with one of their shipments. But, give me a minute…Franz should be here and he will know what to do."

I then felt confused when this Luciano then put his bowl of pasta down before going back into the kitchen. Chorale, Once, and I exchanged glances. What exactly was going on?

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Why do we have to deal with him again?" I groaned as I drove the two of us back to the bar in my alt mode. Our manager had gotten a letter from the IRS about our spending habits and I was able to create the necessary documents to appear in my alt mode. But, I felt like it took too much time to get the documents organized for our manager's approval.

Drakkar sighed as he drummed his fingers against my passenger door. "It's because he was the easiest manipulatable human that we could find for this life. He helps us make sure that we don't forget to pay our dues. I won't allow that to happen…again."

Mentally, I flinched at his implication and I remembered the first…and hopefully last time, that we forgot to pay the dues for our bar. It was just after the American Revolution and those Caribbean land owners did not take our pirating…or our bar, with kids' gloves. I still replay the ending of that soliform because that shovel was able to crush my spine quite nicely.

Shaking my head out of that memory, I looked to Drakkar and was about to comment when my radio hummed to life and Kreigan's voice came through. " _Scallion…we have a situation."_

This…wasn't sounding good. "Go ahead Kreigan. What's wrong?"

I heard a sigh come from Kreigan before saying, " _Well, that Oliver guy showed up and he brought that guy with him. But, Cutlass, Galleon, and Caravel had to go to the warehouse because the alarm went off. They didn't want to go alone or with just two so all three went leaving Issimo and I here to run the bar. But, that's not the only problem."_ What else was going to be wrong? " _There were two people that came with Oliver. The male was George Lafayette like you all predicted but the singer…Christine Rich, she is with them too."_

Did…did I hear him right? Why the frag did Once-Ler…if Oliver was Once-Ler, bring Christine Rich with him? Was she a Dragonian and I wasn't recognizing her? I had to get back to the bar and figure out what was going on. But, I wanted to hear the song start before we got in. So, with the bar in sight, I answered Kreigan. "Tell them that I will be returning any moment and they should begin playing anyways. Keep the comm line open."

" _Sounds like a plan."_ Kreigan responded to me before I heard him walking on the other side.

It wasn't long before I heard Kreigan open the door to the back of the bar from the kitchen. I listened carefully as I heard Issimo talk to Kreigan. " _Franz! What did Mr. McFain say?"_

" _Well, I got him on the phone and he said that, while he will arrive back here momentarily, that you all should start playing your piece. He trusts our judgement pretty well and he will be able to come in and here a part of it."_ Kreigan told the group.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for one of them to respond. I was just surprised that it was George Lafayette and not Oliver that spoke to him. " _That sounds like a solid plan my friend. Just make sure that you pay close attention. It will be quite some time before I decide to play this song again for the viewing pleasure of others."_

What sort of song were the three of them going to be playing? This was going to be very interesting to say the least and, as I turned into my parking spot, I felt anticipation as the sound of a piano and a violin started to play as Oliver's guitar played a backdrop to the song.

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

No…I had to be hearing this wrong. I had to be hearing things. This song…I hadn't heard that song since the 1800's and I found myself striking a chord in my spark. One of the bots on that stage has been on Earth since then at the very least and that meant that I had been very remiss in looking out for my fellow Dragonians. This experience, along with my run in with Kreigan and Issimo, told me that I had to keep a better audio and optic out for my fellow Revolutionaries.

 _Gather up all of the crew!_

 _It's time to ship out Bink's brew!_

 _Sea wind blows. To where?_

 _Who knows?_

 _The waves will be our guide!_

 _O'er across the ocean's tide,_

 _Rays of sunshine far and wide,_

 _Birds they sing of cheerful things, in circles passing by!_

As soon as my alt mode was parked, I didn't waste a fraction of a nano-click in running to the back door of the bar and, hearing the sound of Drakkar running behind me, I threw the door open before running inside. I didn't care if the door was open, though I was glad that Drakkar did shut the door behind me. There was a Dragonian General singing in my bar at this very nano-click. I could hear the sound of the music as I approached the door that led to the main room. In a burst of necessary need, I pushed the door in front of me open.

 _Bid farewell to weaver's town!_

 _Say so long to port renowned!_

 _Sing a song, it won't be long, before we're casting off!_

 _Cross the gold and silver seas_

 _The salty spray puts us at ease!_

 _Day and night to our delight,_

 _The voyage never ends!_

 _Gather up all of the crew!_

 _It's time to ship out Bink's brew!_

 _Pirates we, eternally are challenging the sea!_

 _With the waves to rest our heads,_

 _ship beneath us as our beds!_

 _Hoisted high upon the mast our Jolly Roger flies!_

My eyes widened as I took in the scene of the room. Issimo and Kreigan were standing behind the bar, staring at the performers on stage. They looked surprised but, Issimo also seemed like he was looking at a ghost. Must be surprised to see the man I was sure was Once-Ler in the actual person.

Galleon, Caravel, and Cutlass were standing by the front door and they looked completely shocked by the performance. Once the other General and I debriefed with each other, I was going to ask the three of them why they had to go to the warehouse.

Next to me, Drakkar had almost instantly froze when he heard the words of the song. I could understand that completely. This song…I was sure that no human in this day and age would know of it so one of the Dragonians on the stage had to have been on Earth since the seventeen hundreds.

 _Somewhere in the endless sky,_

 _Stormy winds are blowin' by!_

 _Waves are dancing, evening comes,_

 _It's time to sound the drums!_

 _But steady men may never fear!_

 _Tomorrow's skies are always clear!_

 _So pound your feet and clap your hands till sunny days return!_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Gather up all of the crew!_

 _It's time to ship out Bink's brew!_

 _Wave good-bye, but don't you cry_

 _Our memories remain._

 _Our days are but a passing dream, everlasting though they seem_

 _'neath the moon we'll meet again, the wind's our lullaby!_

After a moment, I slowly made my way to the front to get a better view of the performers without interrupting them. I would have time to talk to them after the song finished. Oliver looked even more like Once-Ler in person then he did in the video footage. What I found strange, though, was the immense amount of hope that seemed to be almost radiating from his chassis. What in the name of Dragonia had caused that sort of hope to return to a Dragonian…and especially Once-Ler?

I ignored that confusion for now and studied the woman at the piano; Christine Rich. She seemed to play the piano so naturally and, for all that I was alive for, I couldn't come up with why she looked familiar. Frag, she looked even more familiar now then she did from the photos I had seen of her. Plus, now I had her voice to compare with and that was also ringing some bells. But, I couldn't pinpoint exactly where I had heard that voice before! Hopefully, I could figure out how I knew her soon.

 _Gather up all of the crew!_

 _It's time to ship out Bink's brew!_

 _Sing a song and play along_

 _For all the ocean's wide!_

 _After all is said and done,_

 _you'll end up a skeleton!_

 _So spread your tale, from dawn till dusk, upon these boney seas!_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,_

 _Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho._

As the final verse was finished being sung, Christine and Oliver stopped playing and the man that I had been trying to find since seeing the footage in Carson City had my full attention as he ended the song with a violin solo. This man…he was a Dragonian General. After so long of looking, I had finally found one and he was mere feet away from me. It was taking all of my restraint to prevent myself from jumping on the stage and embracing my fellow Dragonian brother. But, I had to do this right so I could get all the information I needed.

Once the violin finally stopped, the seven of us gave the performers a round of applause. The song had been great and I was excited that the time had come to greet another Dragonian General. Once we were all finished clapping, I didn't even bother waiting as I walked up to the stage and spoke. "Ipo raign ak selanitra rai ul ak gretranar har aki zarnex."

"Har, rai maom wakier varne tor ux rixen craselen." I jumped, as did the rest of us not on stage, when the voice answered me. It wasn't George Lafayette…who I had been expecting to respond to that, but it had been Christine Rich herself to finish the code of the Generals.

Like a bullet through the processor, I finally clicked why Christine was so familiar to me and I was surprised that I hadn't seen it before. I didn't care that there were tears flowing down my eyes as I looked up at her. "Chor…Chorale…I am so glad to see you."

 **Chorale's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I smiled softly as the General in front of us, who I was pretty sure was Scallion, spoke my name with tears running down his face. I knew he wasn't expecting me to be here as well and I was glad that I could make him at least a little happy. "Hello Scallion. I am so glad that you are alive as well."

"Chorale, how did you know I was here?" Scallion asked me as he finally stopped crying, though his eyes were still a little red.

Since Marquis wanted Scallion to realize who he was on his own, I motioned over to Oliver and revealed that idiot…who I still had to get back for calling me an airhelm. "I was driving around Jasper a few days back when this idiot over here decided to yell at me in Dragonian to call me an airhelm. Well, I didn't take kindly to that and so I had yelled at him back in Dragonian and I didn't even realize that we had conversed in Dragonian until I had pulled away down the street a little. Once-Ler and I were both surprised that the other was here." I then pointed to George. "Though I was even more surprised when I found out who George was."

At my mentioning of George…Marquis…Scallion looked over to him and I saw hope in his eyes. That was a very good sign. I was worried about Marquis. He had tried to brush off how much my not knowing who he was hurt him but I could see quite clearly that he had been devastated by it. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. Before he…disappeared, Marquis had been on all of our minds and we would always send greetings to him when we could and, at times, even wrestle with each other to see who would get to sit next to him at our General meetings.

The room was tense for the few minutes that Scallion seemed to study George. My nerves were killing me and I just wanted to say that George was Marquis. I wanted to see the joy that would fill Scallion's faceplate when he discovered what Once-Ler and I already knew. That our dear Marquis was still online and was ready to help us regroup and take on the Crassen blight.

Visions of my imprisonment after the betrayal and being forced to watch the destruction of our homeworld threatened to take over my thoughts but I was able to shake off the memories as Scallion went to talk.

"Aranzer, is that you?"

Panic seized my systems as I looked at Marquis and that panic tried to increase when I saw the pained look that crossed his face when Scallion called him Aranzer. Marquis was definitely not Aranzer and that guess seemed even more farfetched then my thought that he was Vox. Aranzer would not be wasting his time in being a school teacher when he had his entire organization to run. That would not be an effective use of his time. But, I glanced at Once-Ler, who looked like he was panicking as well, and realized why Scallion would make that assumption. It would make sense for Aranzer to grab Once-Ler to help with recruiting and, up until a few days ago, Aranzer had been with Once-Ler. But, Once-Ler had left to try and find more of us himself. Given present company of three Generals, plus the others in this bar, I would say that Once-Ler did a pretty good job.

I shook my head out of my thoughts and went to say something to Scallion when Marquis, to my surprise, let out a shaky sigh and smiled before sitting down. "I am sorry that I must disappoint you Naville Luerme." Naville Luerme? Why did Marquis call Scallion that?

Scallion shook his head at Marquis. "What are you talking…" I then watched as Scallion's eyes widened in shock.

 **Scallion's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I felt like my world was collapsing in on itself and, at the same time, building itself up so fast that I couldn't comprehend what was going on. Before a few seconds ago, I was sure that the General who was disguising himself as George Alexander Lafayette was Aranzer. I had been so sure of that idea that I had immediately guessed it when Chorale, who was another surprise in and of herself, mentioned him as a surprise for herself as well.

But, if what I was hearing was right, then this was… "No…it can't be." I found myself saying in disbelief as I took a step back. But, even as I said that to myself, I knew that it wasn't right. That name he had called me Naville Luerme, was what he would call me during our scouting missions on Dragonian while I would call him Stelling Ferri…many of us called him a scraplet. He had a bite about him that would attach us all to him. But, he was, to me, the Star Scraplet. No one would ever be able to replace him to me. This man in front of me, I felt like my spark was screaming at me saying that this was that mech, but my processor didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be…

I flinched, and my Buccaneers and Kreigan flinched as well, as George jumped off the stage and took the two steps to me. I was surprised that Issimo didn't flinch and I could see that he was staring at George with wide eyes. Did he know? No one knew the nicknames that us Generals had for each other and would never use them if they did hear them. They knew that those names were precious to us and we appreciated their kindness.

But, I didn't have time to study Issimo for long as George's arms wrapped around my shoulders. Looking at him, I found myself staring directly into his eyes, which were full of tears, and I knew that there was no doubt left in my mind now. This was indeed a General that I thought I would never see again. I couldn't form words in my mouth as I gripped George's shoulders in a death grip and I felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over my soliform. My soliform wracked itself as I sobbed and tears streaked down my face.

"Scallion what's wrong? Who is that?" Cutlass asked me in a panicked tone.

That tone caused me to separate from George and my soliform's body to stop wracking, though the tears continued to fall down my face, and I kept my right hand on George's shoulder. "Buccaneers, this is a General that I have told you about but I have not made a point of bringing up often. Until a few moment's ago, I thought that he was offline…as did every Dragonian besides General Chorale here and Once-Ler." I then let a smile burst on my face before saying, "Buccaneers, this soliform is really…" I chocked on my own words as I felt joy even in the attempt to say his name. But, I had to say it so I smiled, "This is General Marquis, the soul of the Dragonian Revolution and one of the most honorable children of Primus that you will ever meet."

I looked to the others as Marquis' name came into the air. I had finally said it and those words just made this situation more real. As the others gathered around us and began to talk, I smiled as I realized what this meant. Two other Generals on this planet with Crassen presence here as well, including the Autobot Crassen leader. Having Marquis, Once-Ler, and Chorale on our side would allow us to have a large advantage over the Crassen here. Once everyone was done re-uniting with Marquis and the others, and getting to know them in the case of my Buccaneers, then I would pull Chorale and Marquis to my office for a private meeting to discuss what our next move should be.

* * *

 **Dragonian to English: Words and/or phrases from this chapter only that I didn't not translate in text previous chapters or in this chapter. I believe this is all the new stuff that I haven't translated for you all yet. If it isn't, let me know and I'll correct that in the next chapter.**

 **Naville Luerme- Keel Spark**

 **Stelling Ferri- Star Scraplet**

* * *

 **Authoress: *sneaks in* I think they are gone. Now I can...**

 **Scallion: Authoress!**

 **Authoress: *jumps* *turns around* Hi Scallion.**

 **Scallion: *points to room* Bed now before I get Chorale.**

 **Authoress: *grumbles and goes to bed.**

* * *

 **MN: *taps mic* Is this thing on? Oh well. Hello humans. This is Marquis taking over this note since the Authoress has been sent to bed. The Authoress hopes that you enjoyed this chapter as much as she enjoyed writing it. She has asked me to tell you that she plans on working on other stories and does not know when this will be updated next but she will not be giving up on this. While the Authoress was vague with what she told me about next chapter she did say that I would be having a talk with Chorale and Scallion about what has been going on...*mutters* That should be fun. *coughs* Anyways, that was all she would tell me. We all hope that you would all consider reviewing on this excerpt from our struggle against the Crassen, even if it is just to say hello to one of us.**

 **CN: *takes mic* Give me this Marquis. You drone on forever at times. *smiles* Hello humans this is Chorale! Like Marquis said, please give us a comment so we can tell Authoress that you all are reading here still. =) Until next time, TTYL! *helmslaps Once-Ler because she doesn't want to hit Marquis***


	11. Looking Toward the Future

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend...he'll show up eventually. XD**

* * *

 **Authoress: Hey look I'm not dead!**

 **Chorale: But you came pretty close...**

 **Marquis: *concerned* Yes, you have been sick for a week. Maybe you should take a rest?**

 **Authoress: *shakes head* No. I'm feeling a lot better now than I was earlier in my sickness. That's why you all are getting updated.**

 **Scallion: *unbelieving but not argumentative* Fine but we are going to watch your condition.**

* * *

Ch. 11: Looking Toward the Future

 **Marquis' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

It almost felt like old times right now…sitting with Scallion and Chorale in Scallion's office. There would be plenty of times in the past when us generals would gather in small meetings and discuss what we had heard for our area of the fighting and then we would talk about old times. I knew that this was going to be a very long talk and I knew that we had a lot to catch each other up. When it was safe for me to reunite with Jabberwocky and Aranzer, I would have Once-Ler contact them and get them to Jasper as soon as I could.

For now, though, I had much to discuss. "Scallion, I am so glad that you are here." I started as Chorale and Scallion took their seats and got comfortable.

I was becoming less surprised by the laughs of shock and so the one coming from Scallion didn't surprise me nearly as much as it had with Chorale before when I had spoken. Of course, I was still surprised by it and I didn't understand why he was laughing. "Marquis…" Scallion started with hesitation before continuing. "I should be the one saying that to you. I…we all thought that you were offline. How did you get on this planet anyways?"

Since these were Generals and they were in on the big secret with Pandimala, I could speak the full truth. "In honesty, before the battle of Prodiada, Chief General Pandimala asked me to take a secret mission into deep space to locate a source of energon that the Crassen couldn't get their servos on to take from us. While I was upset that I would not be able to fight in the battle, I could not let Pandimala down and I accepted the mission completely. I was able to leave Dragonia without being detected by either side and, once I made it a good distance from Dragonia, I set my ships scanners to search for significant amounts of energon and I started my search. Eventually, I ended up here in the Milky Way Galaxy and I found myself travelling toward the very young planet Earth. There was no life on the planet at all and the entire planet had been a frozen planet. Unfortunately, I did not factor the planet's gravitational pull into my landing sequence and I started to crash. So, I got into an emergency stasis pod that I had on my ship and went into stasis."

They both nodded at that before Chorale asked the next question. "How long were you unconscious before you got the message that Pandimala sent out?"

Sighing, I continued my story with her answer. "Millions of stellar cycles. My pod had come loose from my ship so I am not sure exactly. I have never found evidence of my ship so I am sure that it was destroyed. When I awoke on Earth, the humans had just started to discover civilization in what they called the Fertile Crescent area of Mesopotamia. What my pod could tell me was that Pandimala…she had sent the message thirty solar cycles after my ship had crashed. Hearing that message…it hurt to know how much pain you all were going through due to the loss of the war and of…Chaom." I paused at Chaom's name and sighed. He had been one of my closest and dearest friends and…he was no more. The last time I had seen him…he had been so full of hope for the victory of the war. We had been in the meeting tent after…the traitor Crassen Prince Starscream… left, when we were discussing the plans for the battle of Prodiada.

"Marquis," Chorale started in a knowing tone.

I already knew what she was going to say and so I interrupted her. "Chorale, I know that you keep telling me that I shouldn't feel this way because I couldn't have refused orders, but I can't help it. We were all one unit and I was not there to pull my weight and in return we lost a member of our family. It will be some time before I can forgive myself for what happened." She had a stubborn look on her face that looked like she was going to argue with me.

Thankfully, Scallion came to my rescue. "Chorale, Marquis needs time to sort this out for himself. While this is just an educated guess, I have a feeling that Marquis just found out about what happened to our home world when he made contact with either you or Once-Ler…whoever was first. He has been in isolation from everything that has been happening over millions of stellar cycles and I think we owe him the time to sort out this for himself." He then turned to me. "So, have you been using human soliforms for as long as you have been awake here or do you take breaks from them?"

Shaking my head, I motioned to myself…since I was in soliform right now, before saying, "I have always used soliforms, and up until modern history I usually had dozens of soliforms out at once. I kinda miss the rugged life of humanity's ancient past because they didn't interfere with my soliform program and I could explore multiple points of Earth at once." I then turned to Scallion and, remembering that he seemed to have ties to the time of the pirates, asked him about his time here. "Scallion, when did you arrive on Earth?"

He seemed to think on that for a few clicks before saying, "I am pretty sure that it was around, in local time, the year 900 A.D. I was very confused about how to maneuver as a soliform around the planet but, thankfully, a holy man that I met in the woods in what would be modern solar cycle France was able to help me learn the ropes of being human. I met Drakkar in 1550, the twins, Galleon and Caravel in 1579, and Cutlass in 1652. We've helped each other since but I am glad that you are here now." He then turned to Chorale. "What about you Chorale? When did you get here?"

She moved some of her hair away from her face before smiling and saying, "Well, I haven't been here nearly as long as the rest of you. I just got here in 1951 and I only had one soliform before this and her name was Liliana Juliet Rich. Became a singer and actress and I have been here ever since. I own a ranch house some ways outside of Jasper as well as a house across the street from Marquis here." Chorale then paused for a click before, to my surprise, she turned to me. "Marquis, how do you make your soliforms die? I had to have Liliana die in a car wreck and burn so they wouldn't recognize her. Had to steal a prop body from one of my sets to do it too."

I sent them both the program I had created, though I wasn't sure that Scallion needed it, before saying, "It took me some time to realize how long humans lived and how they died in certain situations. For a few hundred years, I am pretty sure that I became a god in some cultures. Then, around 3,400 B.C., I finally got the basis of the program I gave you down and could make my soliform 'bleed', using material that this formed saved from the human meals that I learned to eat after I took what I needed from the food to process into energon. I will admit that, at first, I couldn't get it to be red like human blood. The first attempt came out a sickly yellow and everyone thought I was possessed. Of course, it would take me quite a while to learn how much 'blood' I would need to release when I was dealt a blow. I remember the first time I had my head chopped off. I had so much blood coming out of me that the ones that cut it off were drenched in it. Made it easy for me, as that soliform's son, to identify who had taken a part of my death. That was around…oh, 1020 A.D. I was a Lord in Gallia and there was a serf revolt…"

My voice tapered off as Scallion's eyes widened. If I were to compare them to anything they would be dinner plates…and ones big enough to hold all of Issimo's pasta. I was not liking that look. "Scallion…what's with that look?" Chorale asked him slowly. I could see confusion in her eyes that probably matched my own.

Scallion, in return, finally blinked before talking. "Your name wouldn't have happened to be Lord Lothaire Enzo Nicolas?" Wait…was he there?

"Yes…where you there?" I asked him, shock heavy in my voice.

Slowly, he nodded before saying, "Yes…my name was Kaolin Warrick,"

"Arbeit." I interrupted him. Unlike other feudal lords of the time, I made sure to keep track of every single person that I had work for me and I made sure to treat each one well. The serf revolt that I had experienced had been an extreme surprise to me. I didn't know how to react when I had been dragged from my home, thankfully I had the soliform that I was posing as my 'son', Lord Hercule Ambroise Nicolas, away in town and at that time I was a widower. I was not happy that I died like that. I was not an overlord and I never wanted any of my workers to feel the same way that I did during the Revolution against the Crassen. I would not have treated my people so terribly.

Scallion looked extremely nervous and I now realized why he would be so. Chorale, on the other servo, looked completely confused. "Will one of you two idiots tell me why those two soliforms are important?" Well, at least she was back to calling me an idiot.

Of course, I had a feeling that when we broke out what had happened, our nice little meeting was going to end abruptly…and we had barely even started it. "Well…" Scallion started nervously and I noticed that he was moving slightly away from Chorale and toward the stairs…though he hadn't yet left his seat. "I was Kaolin and Marquis here, as I am now finding out, was Lord Lothaire. Well, I had heard from my fellow serfs that Lord Lothaire was a brutal man and so we all rose in revolt against him. I just stood there as the leaders of our revolt…beheaded him. I was later stabbed through the chest by my new Lord since, after Lord Lothaire's death, his son, Lord Hercule, sold all of the serfs that had been a part of the revolt."

Chorale was shaking in her seat and her eyes were cold as stone…and they were locked on Scallion. "You….YOU KILLED MARQUIS?!"

Scallion didn't hesitate and bolted to the door going downstairs. Chorale, right on form, was right behind him with murder in her eyes while I just sat there and laughed. I laughed at the odds of Scallion and I having crossed paths in the ancient times of earth, at the humor of being with my fellow generals again, and the joy of just being with fellow Dragonians. It was uplifting and it reminded me that there was always a reason to look toward the future, no matter how bleak the past looked.

A crash coming from the bottom of the stairs told me that I should stop Chorale from killing Scallion and so I ran down the stairs and almost found myself laughing at the sight I saw. Scallion was dangling from a support pole and Chorale was jumping up to reach him with a look of fury in her eyes that would kill. The twins that followed Scallion, Galleon and Caravel if I remembered right from the introductions, were laughing at their captain's troubles. Cutlass…the one that I got into the fight with in Carson City, was leaning against the bar laughing, with Kreigan sitting on the stool next to him and Issimo sitting on the bar with a giant bowl of pasta…

…Seriously what was Issimo's addiction to pasta?

Anyways, I looked next to me and I smiled when I saw Once-Ler and Drakkar, the last of Scallion's Buccaneers that I had to locate, were leaning against the wall and smirking at what was going on. "Hey Marquis?" I turned to Once-Ler as he started to speak. "What got Chorale so mad at Scallion?"

I let out a chuckle before answering him. Drakkar looked like he was listening closely as well. "Well, Scallion and I just realized that we met in the year 1020 A.D. and he just so happened to help get my soliform killed at that point. Chorale isn't too happy with that."

Once-Ler laughed at that before saying, "No I dare say she isn't." He then continued to laugh and I was dragged into laughter with him.

However, we didn't laugh long as Drakkar got my attention. "General Marquis…you seem familiar to me as well. I believe that we have met before while I was with General Scallion."

The room seemed to go quiet at his simple statement, even though he didn't speak loudly, and all audios were focused on us as I spoke. "I am not sure when we would have met Drakkar. My life here in America has been filled with either being in wars or avoiding them. That was what got me into teaching in the first place."

It was Cutlass, to all our surprise, that had the hidden answer. "I know how we know you." He then motioned to me before saying, "You were Alexander Gilbert Washington. We were in France at the time and you were with your college history class. You talked Scallion's audios off…of course he was called Draco Colby Pietri back then."

Now I remembered that. Mr. Pietri was very interesting to talk to and, if it hadn't been for one of my fellow classmates pulling me back to the group, I would have talked about him through the night. But, alas I hadn't had time to talk with him longer than the three hours that I did. Maybe if we would have talked longer, I would have discovered that he was Scallion. Where would that have led us today?

Before I could make a comment on that, Kreigan made a noise of realization before he stepped up to me and said, "I believe that I have met you in the past as well. Issimo had been smuggled with me to the colonies and I was a Hessian mercenary called. You were called Dorian Theodore Colbert and you worked with the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution."

Mentally, I flinched at the reference to the American Revolution, having made numerous connections to our own Revolution…that had failed, and it took me a second of getting myself calm before I remembered meeting him. It was a short meeting but I had been able to convince him to move out west and abandon fighting against the Americans. He had been one of the easiest Hessians that I had convinced to join the American side. "You were Bertram Leopold Rosenberg…correct?"

He nodded toward me with a smile. "Ya. You had reminded me of Marquis but, back then, I knew that it couldn't be you because you were supposedly offline. So, I had brushed it off."

We all laughed about that and continued to laugh before Chorale put up her hands and said, "Alright, as much fun as this has been, I think we all should decide about what happens next. What should our next move be?"

Cutlass was the first to respond to that. "Well, I think we should find out what rock these Crassen are hiding under and take them out. We have three generals plus the rest of us aren't bad at fighting…well, Issimo would stay back and man the ground bridge once I finish it up. I just have a few tests to run before it is ready to be operational."

Immediately I shook my head at that. "No. The Crassen cannot know that I am online…not yet. No Crassen will know that General Marquis is still online until I meet with General Pandimala in the bot. I will not allow the Crassen to have that privilege before she does. However, I will be participating in more of the street races to track down the red one. That Crassen will be the exception. I complimented him and I want to make sure…personally, that he does not think that I meant that. I will see it leave his optics as the light leaves his spark." I was still sore on that issue and hopefully none of them would ask more on it.

While my explanation caused a few curious looks from everyone besides Once-Ler and Chorale, who had already been told the story, no one talked on it as Kreigan said, "Also, it would be foolish for us to attack the Crassen base right now. We have no idea what their actual numbers are and, while having even two generals out in the battle would give us a very clear advantage, the Crassen would have, as the humans say, home field advantage. While I agree that any attack that we launch should be on their base, we would need more numbers than what we have here to do that. For now, we must content ourselves with finding out any information that we can."

"Or we can up the number of total generals here to five."

 **Once-Ler's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I smirked as almost everyone in the bar stared at me in confusion. The only two that seemed to understand where I was getting at were Chorale and Marquis. But, everyone else stared at me in utter shock. "Once-Ler…how are we going to get five generals here?" Scallion started. "There are only three of us here now and, I'm assuming that the fourth one you are talking about is Aranzer. But, how can you get a fifth General here? I mean, before today there were only seven of us Generals to me." Well, a week ago there were only seven to all of us so I could understand that. But, where was he going with this? "And now there are eight. With Aranzer, that would leave only four other Generals out there and, from what I understand, Vox and Pandimala are travelling together and so that only leaves two out of the eight Generals. How are you going to get one of the last two Generals that this could be?"

Laughter escaped me for a few nano-clicks and I just continued to laugh as everyone but Marquis and Chorale looked like they had no idea what was going on. I loved this kind of click and wished that it would last. But, I did have to tell Scallion the good news so they could plan for the other two Generals that should be able to come. "That's easy Scallion. Along with Aranzer, Cirkus, and myself, there was another General who Aranzer found and has been travelling with us. When I left Cirkus, there were two Generals in attendance. One was, of course, General Aranzer. But, the other was, to my pleasure, General Jabberwocky."

Scallion immediately let out a whoop as soon as General Jabberwocky's name left my lips and he smiled widely before saying, "That sounds like a great idea! Having five Generals here, four of who could fight until we contact General Pandimala, would be more than enough to attack the Crassen here on Earth."

"What does this General look like?" Drakkar asked from his spot where he was seated next to the bar. The other three Buccaneers looked like they wanted to know as well.

Scallion then turned to his Buccaneers, who I just realized wouldn't know who General Jabberwocky was, before he said, "General Jabberwocky, before her Dragonian conversion, was a native of the Jungle Planet. She would be very hard to miss due to her alt mode being that of a dragonoid creature. Her coloring is orange and black and, trust me, she won't go as easy on you, Cutlass, as Marquis did during the fight you two had at the bar in Carson City."

I had a feeling that the fight in Carson City was something that Cutlass was not going to be forgetting. That was especially shown due to the chuckles that came from all of us toward Cutlass. Something told me that we were all going to get along just perfectly and that was fine. That was what it meant to be a Dragonian…to be a family. While I knew we wouldn't always get along with each other, it was the calm moments like this that showed me exactly what family was.

However, a strange look crossed Marquis' faceplate for a nano-click that worried me before he turned to Scallion and Chorale. "Generals," both looked to Marquis, as did the rest of us, before he continued, "I believe that we need to set up training regiments like we did back on Dragonia. With the presence of Crassen confirmed on this planet, we will need all our troops to be in top fighting form. I have been doing the training that General Pandimala and General Chaom set up for us for almost every single solar cycle that I have been awake on this planet. I have maybe missed seven solar cycles tops. But, I know that our troops need the same training that we do."

I knew the training that Marquis was talking about, though I had never done it myself, and I was going to say something when I noticed something else. Chorale and Scallion looked very guilty about something. "Wait…" I started, staring at the two of them with a mischievous smile on my faceplate. "you two haven't been doing the training!" I then let out a laugh that was so strong that I ended up falling to the ground in a heap.

Marquis looked generally surprised by my outburst and looked between Scallion and Chorale in shock. "Is…is Once correct?"

My laughter increased as both nodded before Scallion said, "We haven't had major fighting to fight since Dragonia and I'm afraid that everybot really slacked off in their training. I realized that the other solar cycle when I was fighting some Crassen here." A look of shock then spread on Scallion's faceplate before he said, "Marquis, for the moment, you might be the strongest General among those of us that remain."

Immediately I stopped laughing and I felt my own optics widen in shock and, when I looked to Marquis, I saw the same shock in his. This had never happened before. I knew that even Aranzer and Jabberwocky didn't keep up on the training as much as Marquis had. The last time the two of them had trained was hundreds of stellar cycles before we came to Earth. I was now anxious to see Marquis out in the field but, first, we had to respect Marquis' wishes and wait for General Pandimala and him to meet.

 **Aranzer's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I tapped my salmon colored ring master boots against the wooden floor beneath me. I was nervous…and I didn't do nervous well. Once-Ler had been gone for a week and he had not sent any word. I had told him to send me word when he could but he hasn't sent me anything yet! I didn't like being uninformed of what was going on. That was why I started Cirkus in the first place. I wanted to have a place where I could bring in the lost and needing Children of Primus and all they had to do to pay for rent was tell me any information that they found. It was a very simple system that evolved into my multi-galaxy web of information.

…Well, what normally would be multi-galaxy. With the fall of Dragonia, I decided to keep all my ships in one travelling group. We had lost Chaom…a dear friend, and we had also lost another dear friend…Marquis…due to a betrayal and I would not allow my organization to fall. Not when Pandimala could rise at any nano-click and revitalize our great cause.

"Aranzer…are you alright?"

I turned, surprised that I had not sensed another bot's presence, and sighed when I saw who it was. "Jabberwocky, you startled me." Standing in the doorway was a woman with black and orange colored hair, tanned skin, and two orange eyes that held worry. Worry of my own came as I saw her scar, which was over her right eye, was red and looked irritated. "Jabberwocky, is your scar bothering you?" While the scar in her soliform was fake, our soliforms could represent what was happening with our actual bodies and that irritation was not good.

She, of course, waved it off before walking into the light. "It's fine Aranzer. Balm said she was going to put some ointment on it when she got done with her checkup on Plena Teo. His scars started burning again and she is said she was going to see if she could operate on them to ease the pain."

Thoughts of the speaker of the consulate caused me to flinch. When we had lost the Revolution, most of the consulate had been able to escape before the Crassen got them. Plena Teo hadn't been so lucky. He was tortured for stellar cycles before my organization could locate him and liberate him. I now understood why Jabberwocky was not so worried about the scar over her optic.

Now that Jabberwocky was in the light, I could see her outfit plainly and I smiled. She wore black leggings with orange tear designs on the sides and a black polo shirt with the same orange tear designs but these were across her chest and, since I knew the shirt, I knew that they were on the back as well. Over that, she wore an orange jacket with black tear designs on the sleeves. On her back, she wore the mechanical wings that we had crafted for her trapeze act. She loved playing the villain when we would perform a story and those wings would emphasize that. She must have just come out of practice.

"So, what can I do for you Jabberwocky?" I asked the femme as she came and stood in front of me.

She let out a small laugh before saying, "Firstly, you can help me get these blasted wings off." Just because she liked to wear them for her act didn't mean that she liked them. Like she told me time and time again, her actual form had wings and they were all that she would ever need.

Laughing myself, I helped Jabberwocky take the wings off. "You know, you could have done this with whoever you were practicing with." I made it a rule that we always practice with someone else, whether in bot mode or in soliform.

"I know." She said back. "Talon would have loved to help me, since I helped her with hers, but I wanted to talk with you and this was an excuse for me to come unfollowed. Shutterfrost and Flarewing have been trying to play a prank on me. But, they aren't quite ready to play one on you yet."

Talon, or Arctic Talon as her name was, came to be with our family here on Earth. Jabberwocky had found the resurrected Predacon deep in a valley in Germany's Black Forest in a far-off cave. Jabberwocky vetted Arctic Talon as a trustworthy new addition to the Dragonian family and Jabberwocky had taken the Predacon under her wings to teach her. I guess Jabberwocky finally had her own 'team'…even if it was just two of them for now.

I tapped my boot once before smiling. "So, what did you want to talk about with me?"

My smile fell as a concerned look came onto her face. "Aranzer, you're worried. Is it about Once-Ler?"

Flinching, I nodded. I didn't like when the others in my organization could see when something was bothering me and, of course, Jabberwocky had hit the problem right in the helm. "He hasn't been in contact. We've lost so many of our family and…I'm not sure how well anyone will be able to take losing Once-Ler. He was one of the closest bots to General Marquis…the closest to him outside of us inner circle generals that's for sure. It would be a large blow to lose him."

Jabberwocky sighed and came up behind me before wrapping her arms around my shoulders. "Holzi Vonnik, dur maom vern ordli. Memiscor, Once-Ler icrasete parvon Marquis." I shivered as I heard the Dragonian language float through my ear. We rarely spoke the language anymore unless we were either worried about Crassen or, like this, we were comforting each other. Holzi Vonnik, or Hell Ringer, was her little nickname for me.

"Ciertak utlan, Nottic Strocheller." Nottic Strocheller, or night raider, was my nickname for her. She would come out of the shadows of the night and tear into any Crassen that tried to hurt our family. It was one of her strongest qualities.

The two of us stayed motionless for a few clicks and I felt that, just for a nano-click, we were back on Dragonia. One of the times that I had met with the other generals for a meeting, Pandimala had insisted on all of us camping out in the open under the star filled sky. With General Marquis firmly on her side…well, even I couldn't say no. I was taken back to the moment when all of us were awake under those beautiful stars…a view I would never see again.

The sound of a guitar strumming through the room caused both of us to jump out of the trances we had put ourselves in. That sound was what I had set up to let me know when Once-Ler was calling in. This was the call that I was waiting for an it was _finally_ here. Both Jabberwocky and I wasted no time in moving to the monitor and I quickly accepted the call. "Who is this?" I asked into the line. It was a precaution just in case Once-Ler was in trouble.

"Once-Ler reporting in Generals."

I felt relief when I heard Once-Ler's voice but, at the same time, I was curious as to how Once-Ler knew that General Jabberwocky was with me right now. "Once-Ler, how did you know that there were two of us?"

He, in turn, let out a laugh and responded. "I could hear the other one's labored breathing a galaxy away. Must have just finished practicing a routine."

"Once-Ler when I get my servos on you I am going to tear you apart for that." Jabberwocky growled playfully while leaning over my shoulder.

While this was very nice banter, I realized that something was wrong with how Once-Ler was speaking. He would usually find a very secure area to contact me and he would use our names. I had no doubt that he had found a secure area to contact us from…so why wasn't he using our names? "Once-Ler, what's wrong?"

The chuckling that had been coming from Once-Ler stopped before he spoke. "General, I am in the town of Jasper, Nevada and I have been able to locate more Dragonians."

Already? I didn't think that Once-Ler would have made progress on his self-given mission so soon. Plus, I knew Jasper, Nevada. I took Circus Cirkus there to preform near the end of July. I had even just bridge to the town a few nights back to deliver the flyers saying that we would be returning. But, by the sounds of it, we would be retuning much sooner.

"Once-Ler, that does not explain what's wrong." Jabberwocky pressed the music loving mech.

The cold tone in Once-Ler's vocals made me shiver. "We have confirmed at least nine Crassen in the area, and two of those are confirmed as Sentinel Major and Pitch."

My spark sent a wave of icy worry through my lines as those words registered. Sentinel Major, the creation of the past Crassen leader Sentinel Prime, was just as cold and sparkless as his sire was. There was no sense of morality in his chassis to be found and all he cared for was spreading his own designation and power.

Then, there was Pitch. Hundreds of Dragonians had been victim to him in one way or another. He was one of the Crassens' best…interrogators and he would take great pleasure in making the interrogation experience especially excruciating for any Dragonian he found.

This was why Once-Ler was so careful about saying our names. Crassen could be trying to intercept the call he was making as he spoke and he did not want our names revealed to the Crassen. It was best to keep them guessing as to which of us Once-Ler was reporting to.

There was no time for delay. "Once-Ler, we are on our way. Top speed to pack everything up and move and we can arrive in Jasper before a week has passed. Stay safe."

"You as well sir." Once-Ler responded before cutting the connection.

And I did not waste a nano-click as I turned on the multi-tent communication line. "Listen up Cirkus! We need to be on the road within the hour! This is not a drill! Information will be sent to each of you immediately but we must be off to Jasper now!"

I would not leave Once-Ler and the Dragonian that he found to fend for themselves against the Crassen that were closing in on them. We would stand behind them and make sure that our family stood tall. While Dragonia was barely more than a memory, it was kept alive in the sparks of each and every one of us that believed in the cause we fought for on our home world…and continue to fight to this solar cycle.

The bustling of tents being taken down around me barely registered to me as I walked forward. The fight was beginning anew…

Viva Dragonia!

* * *

 **Dragonian to English: Words and/or phrases from this chapter only that I didn't not translate in text previous chapters or in this chapter. I believe this is all the new stuff that I haven't translated for you all yet. If it isn't, let me know and I'll correct that in the next chapter.**

 **Holzi Vonnik, dur maom vern ordli. Memiscor, Once-Ler icrasete parvon Marquis - Hell Ringer, he will be alright. Remember, Once-Ler learned from Marquis.**

 **Ciertak utlan, Nottic Strocheller. - Thank you Night Raider.**

* * *

 **Aranzer: What are you doing to Once-Ler? *glares***

 **Authoress: *backs up with hands up defensively* I'm not doing anything to him! *mutters* Yet.**

 **Jabberwocky: *Growls* What was that? *scratches was with sharp clawed servos***

 **Authoress: *gulps* Nothing! Nothing at all. *sweatdrops nervously***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! Thank you guest reviewer for reviewing this and I hope this chapter met your expectations. I'm sorry for the long wait but a lot of stuff came up at once and I barely had time to type this. I'm hoping that I will be able to update a lot faster here but I wouldn't hold my breath. Anyways...I know that there haven't been many action scenes. Originally, I had a Decepticon vs Autobot fight scene planned for this chapter but events in this chapter took too long and I didn't want to drag the chapter to 10k words. I think the +6K words is enough for you all for now.**

 **Poor Scallion...may he rest in peace once Chorale gets her servos on him. He killed Marquis! XD Also, we get our first glance at Cirkus and two more Generals! I am uber excited to bring everything together and, once Cirkus arrives in Jasper, and even a little before, events will start to get more intense. Next chapter, I will be having more focus on the Crassen, mainly the Autobot side, and we will be having at least one scene with Sarah...I hope.**

 **Well, that's all I have to say for now and I am so glad that you all are reading this. Please leave a review so I can see how you all like this...or if you want to even just say hi that would be amazing so I know you are out there. =) Until then though, TTYL! *Hides from Aranzer and Jabberwocky***


	12. Arrival of an Ally

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Ratchet: *grumbles* Go away human.**

 **Authoress: *smiles widely* Why? I know you like it when I'm here. *Cheshire grin***

 **Ratchet: *Frowns* That is most certainly not true.**

 **Springer: *finches* Ouch. Savage honesty from the doc.**

 ***Sentinel walks in and almost steps on Authoress but Ratchet picks her up in time***

 **Sentinel: *glares at Authoress* Vermin should stay out of my way.**

 **Ratchet: *throws wrench* Frag it Sentinel you get out of here! The humans are our allies and it will be looked on as treason if you kill one carelessly.**

 **Pitch: *walks in and stands by Sentinel* *smirks* Oh, I assure you medic...its death will most certainly not be given to it carelessly.***

 ***Sentinel and Pitch walk out***

 **Authoress: *glomps Ratchet's digit* *crying* You really do care about me! I knew it!**

 **Ratchet: *watching where Sentinel and Pitch left with worried optics***

* * *

Ch. 12: Arrival of an Ally

 **Ratchet's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I sighed as I worked on cleaning the med bay. While I knew that we needed the extra help here on Earth against the Decepticons, and now the Dragonians, I did not like the added stress of more Autobots in the base. More specifically, the additions of Sentinel Major and Pitch. While it looked like Bulkhead had a run in with Pitch in the past, from the glances the two kept sending each other, I knew both Sentinel and Pitch from my solars fighting in the Dragonian War. For most of my time serving there, I was on a platoon with them and a few other future Autobots. I never got along with Pitch and Sentinel and there were a few incidents that really caused a rift in our section of troops.

And now here, on Earth, the two of them were causing problems. While I had not been at the battle with the Dragonians, I did hear the reports and I couldn't believe that little Dragonian motorcycle mech was here of all places and out of all times. I had seen the little mech once and he had been very nervous. When I had seen him, he was being evacuated from a Dragonian outpost. I didn't see much of him but he was hard to forget. The young mech had been screaming out for somebot and the ones who were evacuating the bot had to struggle to keep moving with the mech. I assumed he was a civilian and so I didn't alert my troop that he was being evacuated even though he seemed to be a Dragonian.

With the reports about what happened the other solar cycle, I now knew he was a civilian. From everybot's report, except for Pitch and Sentinel, Issimo seemed terrified of being in the battle and neither Sentinel nor Pitch had suffered any wounds that could have come from the two-wheeler. This was deja-vu all over again from my time with them that I was worried. Dragonia's citizens seemed to be coming out as some part in the fight for Earth and I wasn't sure what would happen. After they lost the war, Dragonia was quarantined by decree of the Council and anybot who would dare disobey would be charged with treason and have an offlining sentence placed on their helms.

During the war on Cybertron, I had met up with two bots who had served on Dragonia during the time that I did and they said that they had run into a few Dragonians not long after. I had asked them what happened and they responded by saying that the Dragonians attacked them in a fury and had called them murderers, traitors, and Crassen. From what those two bots told me, the Dragonians seemed to fight like they were seeking retribution. That didn't sound right. I had met a Dragonian fighter once, while on Dragonia, and the bot had seemed very wise and honorable. Protected me even from a pack of Cyber-Wolves that had me cornered. Retribution seemed like a last resort fighting measure for the Dragonians from what I saw of the bot I met.

However, the reports from the other solar spoke of the same motivation; retribution. Frag, even Optimus' report mentioned General Scallion, who was a part of the inner circle of Generals on the Dragonian side during the Dragonian war, making reference to mass murder of their civilians by bots on our side of the conflict. I had never heard reports like that and, if that was what they were basing their anger on, then these references might have happened after the war was won by Cybertron.

"Hey doc," I turned and slightly sighed when I saw Springer walking over. I was glad that it wasn't Sentinel or Pitch, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with other bots right now. "when do the kids normally get here? Miko wanted to ask me some more questions the other night cycle but didn't get the chance."

I shook my helm and motioned in the direction of Jasper before saying, "They are usually picked up from school around fifteen hundred." Then, a memory from this morning came up and caused me to motion to the triple changer. "If you could, Bulkhead asked for somebot to pick up Miko for him. Since he is scouting for energon in Europe, he won't be back in time to pick her up."

The triple changer nodded and smiled. "Then I guess that's perfect timing. Bet she'll be surprised to see me."

Shaking my helm was the only option I saw in replying to that. So much noise in the base lately and, for some reason, I had a sneaking feeling that it was only going to get worse. When I looked back at the triple changer, I saw that he was staring at me in a confused way. "What?" I prodded him to see if he would just tell me what he wanted to so I could get back to work. It was fourteen hundred now and so I just had one cycle to get some work done before the kids came and caused enough distractions for everybot.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's none of my business. Just thinking is all. That fight that we had with the Dragonians was…odd."

He was thinking about the Dragonians? That was strange but, since I was just thinking on the subject, I decided to indulge his curiosity. "What do you want to ask? Quickly though because I have much work that I need to get done."

Finally, Springer nodded. "Fine. I was wondering…since you fought on Dragonia, if you remember anything about how they fought?"

Sighing, I focused solely on the triple changer. "It was strange. When the Council sent us to Dragonia, we were told that they were brutes and should be simple enough to fight if we used our helms. But, we found a very different situation when we got there. The Dragonians were smart, organized, and extremely well trained. The most fearsome though, were the inner circle generals that reported to Chief General Chaom…and Chief General Chaom himself."

I must have struck a chord with Springer because his optics suddenly widened. "Like that one that was at the battle…Scallion I think his designation was."

"Yes." I responded to his statement. "Scallion was one of their known inner circle generals. We could never keep track as to just how many they had, but I had heard of Scallion. We were all lucky that Scallion allowed us to pull back. I once saw another inner circle general, called Vox, take on a squadron of soldiers by himself to allow his own company to fall back to a better position. He won against those nine soldiers." I then paused, to allow Springer to register what I was saying, before I said it out loud. "Since there were only eight of us present in that fight, and there were four bots in fighting condition that included Scallion, then we would have suffered more casualties if they had been on an offensive rather than a defensive like they were." I saw Springer's optics widen at that thought before I turned around and motioned away. "Now go pick up Miko. It's already fourteen thirty and it will take you ten clicks to get to Jasper. Make sure you have your soliform driving."

"Sure Ratchet…and thanks." Springer responded to me before I heard a transformation sequence that was followed by an engine starting. I glanced over my shoulder plating and watched as Springer disappeared down the tunnel that lead out of base.

Finally! Some peace and quiet. I turned back to the monitor, where I was actually scanning for energon signals, and let out a relaxing sigh. No more interruptions for a while. Arcee and Bumblebee had already gone to Jasper to pick up Jack and Raf, Springer had, of course, just left, Sentinel and Pitch were out scouting in the desert for more Dragonians…though I doubted that they were going to find any more Dragonians after the fight the other solar, Bulkhead, Blurr, and Optimus were scouting for Energon in Europe, Cliffjumper was staying local to scout for any Decepticons in the area…which was something that we had to remember while also staying alert for the Dragonians, and the only bot left in base was Blackarachnia. While she might come here, she seemed to understand that I had work to do and, the other solar, she had even helped me by scanning for any incoming signals from space while I looked for energon.

"Hey Ratchet."

Speaking of the femme, I turned and saw her come out of the hall and toward the other side of the monitor. When she came to stand next to me, I greeted her. "Hello Blackarachnia."

She motioned to the monitor. "If you don't mind, can I look for incoming signals? The base is pretty empty right now and I'm going crazy without something to do."

I nodded and motioned to the monitor. "Go ahead. With the arrival of the Dragonians and with the continued threat of the Decepticons we could use as many allies as we can."

The two of us then set off to work on our separate tasks and I tried to look in Europe for any energon signals. If I could find one that was near Optimus' team, then we stood a better chance at retrieving some before the Decepticons…or these Dragonians, could take it from us. With them on the planet, I now realized, the fight over the limited energon stores on this planet would be even more critical.

"Ratchet," I turned to Blackarachnia as she addressed me. Her optics had yet to leave the monitor. "I'm picking up a comm frequency from near Earth's moon. It's registered in the base's comm network." I was excited when she said that she was picking up a comm frequency but, when she said that it was registered in the base's comm network…I knew that was only one bot and I knew for certain that I was not going to get any work done.

"We had better patch in Optimus." I informed her before contacting Optimus. "Optimus, this is base. Can you read us?"

" _Loud and clear Ratchet._ " Optimus responded to me on the other side.

Well…it was best to get this done quickly. "We've picked up Wheeljack's comm frequency near Earth's moon. Should we make contact?"

" _Yes 'Jackie's back!"_ I flinched as Bulkhead yelled that into the comm.

Before I could yell at him, Optimus responded. " _Make contact Ratchet. We need more allies with us with the presence of Dragonians."_

…I was afraid he was going to say that.

 **Miko's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"You know, I expected a little more conversation from you Miko."

I jumped when Springer suddenly spoke to me through his speakers and I only realized then that I had zoned out. Currently, I wasn't in the best of moods. Frenchy used to be an awesome teach but, for the past week, he turned into some quiz-Nazi. I mean, we had taken a quiz on different subjects from the year every day! It was hard to get to know the new bots, like Springer, when I had to constantly study for these things. I wanted to get through his class with a passing grade so I could continue to doodle and that meant all this studying! Today was Friday and that meant that there was only one more week of school. Honestly, I couldn't wait. After the trip to Carson City, he seemed really tense and, of course, he was giving all of these stupid quizzes!

But, back to Springer. "Sorry. Our stupid history teacher has been giving us quizzes every day for the past week! It's like he suddenly wants us to fail!" I then huffed and sat cross legged. Frenchy was being totally unreasonable about all these quizzes and they were stupid.

"That's why you've been studying those books with Raf and Jack?" Springer asked me as we continued to get closer to base.

Nodding, I motioned to the two boys, who were being driven next to us. "Yeah. Jack's doing okay but even he's struggling. Raf's doing great on these quizzes, of course, but he's been helping us study. The one today was on ancient Egypt. We haven't even touched that subject since last October!" I was really mad that Frenchy was doing this and it was stressing all three of us out.

When he was quiet for a while, I was confused. Springer was the one that wanted a conversation and now he wasn't answering me back? Talk about, "Sorry about that Miko." Springer finally spoke. 'Finally' being key there.

"Did you zone out?" I asked him as the base came in sight.

"No, that was Bulkhead sending me a private message." He then paused. "I bet I can make your day a little better." I could hear a smile in his voice.

That, of course, got me excited. "What? What is it?" I asked him quickly.

He laughed as entered base behind Arcee and Bumblebee before he said, "Guess they got in contact with Wheeljack about thirty clicks ago and he's going to be landing in a few clicks. Says he's got another Wrecker with him! That's going to make four Wreckers here on Earth!"

Wheeljack was back? "Yes! Wheeljack's back!" I cried out in excitement as Springer stopped and I hopped out before running up to Bulkhead. "Are they here yet? Are they here yet?" I asked him quickly.

"Whoa, slow down Miko." Bulkhead said before holding his servo down to me, which I jumped into, before he picked me up and continued talking. "Optimus, Blurr, and Ratchet went to pick them up."

I was almost bouncing in excitement when he said that. Jackie was back and he had another new bot with him. Since he was bringing a Wrecker, then I had a good idea that he wasn't going to be like Sentinel. That would be a positive in this terrible week.

I got even more excited when Optimus' voice came through the base comm. " _Bumblebee open the groundbridge."_

Bumblebee moved to the controls and I smiled widely as the bridge opened, staring intently at the now active bridge. Any click, Wheeljack was going to come in and make my week…and if Frenchy kept giving us these quizzes than he was going to make my month. Seriously!

Optimus was the first one through the bridge and he was followed by Blurr and Ratchet. I waved toward the bridge as Wheeljack walked through. When he looked over to us, he smiled and ran up to us. "Bulk! Springer! I'm glad we're getting the gang back together!"

Um…wasn't he forgetting about someone…like me! "Hey what about me!?" I asked him as I put my hands on my hips.

Wheeljack looked down at me and laughed. "Of course, I didn't forget about ya little Wrecker. Plus, I got somebot to introduce you to."

I then turned to the bridge as the next bot came out. He was about Bulkhead's height and he had light blue optics. His face had some scars on it, probably from some awesome battles, and he was mainly colored dark blue with some white and gold markings. I bet he was going to be awesome! "So, this is the little lass Wheeljack couldn't stop chattering my audios off about." The new bot, and Wrecker, said as he came over to us. His voice kinda reminded me of that shark guy from that shark movie.

…Oh well. "Wow." I felt like I was dumbstruck by this new bot. He looked awesome!

"Buddy, this is Miko." Wheeljack introduced me to this new bot before he turned to me. "And Miko," I paid attention as Wheeljack motioned to the Wrecker next to him. "this is Seaspray."

 **Sarah's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Something wasn't right. Over the past week, I've noticed that George has been acting really strange. And, while I could point the start of everything to when Oliver showed up, it has really been just the past week that has thrown everything out of proportions. Everything has been going crazy. Almost every day this week George has been giving the students 'pop quizzes' in all of his classes! That wasn't the normal George that I knew. Before all this started happening, George used to make it a point in saying that pop quizzes never accomplished anything. And now he was giving them out like they were going out of style.

As I made my way to my house, I saw that gold and green car drive by. It was owned by one of those bar managers at the new bar in town. Coincidentally, it also has been around for just over a week. Also, it was another thing that I was worried about George over. Lately, he's been spending almost every minute of his free time either in that bar or hanging out with the people who were from that bar. I was nervous that he was getting into some sort of trouble. But, he had always talked to me in the past when he was in trouble. Reminded me of one time when he was at an Air-Force bar and he got a group of pilots mad at him. He talked to me about it and told me that he didn't even know why they had gotten mad at him. One of the higher ranked Air-Force men at the bar had threatened George to never come back there.

So, if that was the case, then why wasn't he talking to me now? I had to figure out what was going on with George and fast. I felt like I was losing a best friend…and a brother. Growing up as an only child, I really didn't have many friends besides George. We would do everything together. Prank old man Willy…and immediately run from him chasing us with a mower threatening to cut us to bits, studying for tests in middle school and high school, receiving my diploma with him cheering me on, college nights when I was mostly drunk and he had to haul my ass back to the dorms, and me doing the same for him…and strangely on nights when he had to study on the American Revolution.

It was strange. In all the years that I knew him, that subject in school always bothered him. He would get picked on in school because, when we got to the subject, he would tear up a little. In high school he would almost downright cry and had to be excused from the room. But, the kids in school were never strong enough to pick on him entirely. Just call him names and he handled those quite well.

In college, he would drink bottles of rum when he had to do classes that dealt with the Revolution, get flat drunk, and end up barging into my room. It got to the point where my roommate, who was thankfully very understanding, had let me set up an extra bed for him. Thankfully, by the end of college, he was able to teach a class on the subject without bursting into tears. But, that had been a long road.

As I unlocked my house and walked inside, I shook my head. While memories of the past were both good and bad, the point of thinking of it all again was the fact that he had always come to me when he was in trouble…even for the little things. And now…now I barely saw him. So, I was going to get some answers one way or another.

Once I got my food for the night in the oven, which was just some leftover ravioli, I hopped onto my computer and checked my emails. During college, I had made friends with a boy named Ryan Marcus Scott and, while he was at college on a football scholarship, he was actually going to college to work in intelligence. When I last messaged him, he had gotten a job at the CIA. He wasn't allowed to tell me much about his work but he was able to do favors for me from time to time. This was one of them.

A smile pulled on my face as I saw I had an email from said man. So, I quickly opened it. _"Hey Sarah! Long time no write. Hope you're well. Sorry about George acting weird but if anyone can pull him out of this craziness you can. I got the information that you wanted on this Oliver guy and it's attached. Maybe next time I'm in Nevada, we can meet up for lunch…though what I see from my information on Jasper, we'll have to meet out of town somewhere. XD Keep me posted about George please. You and I both know that when he's in trouble he takes it hard. Your friend always, Ryan."_

Oh yes! Ryan came through for me with the information! Quickly going to the attachment, I downloaded it onto my computer before opening it. Name: Oliver Nathan Lercone. Age: 31. D.O.B.: March 2, 1983. Last Known Occupation: Music Teacher at Hillington Tech, Mapleview, Florida. Emergency Contact: Alistair Ryan. Emergency Contact Telephone Number: ***-***-0008.

The first six numbers of the emergency contact were hidden but I just had to move my mouse over them to reveal them. I was curious as to who this Alistair Ryan was and, thankfully, Ryan was a step ahead of me and had a small description of this Alistair person. Name: Alistair Judas Ryan. Age: 35. D.O.B.: April 10, 1979. Occupation: Ringmaster of Circus Cirkus.

"That's weird." I muttered to myself. While that was all the information that Ryan had on this Alistair, it was surprising. This Alistair was the ringmaster of Circus Cirkus! That was the circus that was going to be coming to Jasper in August. Why was Oliver's emergency contact a ringleader of a circus? I mean, Oliver had told me during a talk I had with him after he had been in my class last week that he didn't have any family left alive but I wasn't expecting this. I was about to close out of the email when I noticed a post script.

" _P.S.: I was curious about how this Oliver character you were looking at got a ringmaster as his emergency contact. Look at the link below. You definitely owe me a lunch sometime.-Ryan"_

Yeah, I really did if this continued to pay off as it was so far. Something was going on with Oliver and George was now in the middle of it. But, I pushed those thoughts to the short side as I clicked the link that Ryan sent me. To my surprise, it was to a video about this circus. At first, the trapeze act looked normal and I didn't see anything wrong with it. But, about half way through the video, I had to pause the video. I was in shock. There, swinging from one bar to another with a smile on his face…and looking very hot in that leotard…was Oliver!

He never mentioned being in a Circus! Plus, from the posting date of the video, this was when Oliver would have been making his way from Florida to Jasper. Now that I had this, I wanted to confront Oliver about this. That man…he was hiding something and I was going to find out what that was. I didn't care what sort of danger it could get me in. George was in trouble and I was going to do whatever it took to help him.

 **Unknown 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I smirked as I studied the screen in front of me. While the information that I had originally been looking for was still undiscovered, this little tidbit in front of me would work quite well. My plans had been set back due to that man and I was going to make him pay for getting in my way. However, while I was going to be able to use this against the man, I had to be careful. I had already allowed him to get the advantage on me once and I had to make sure that it did not happen again.

No, I had to be cautious. This man was different than the normal obstacles that I had to tear down on my journey toward knowledge. He was cunning, fast, and trained. Our fight had shown me that much. Also, something that separated him from my normal obstacles was the look I had seen in his eyes. While my normal obstacles would have looks that showed a yearning to protect the items that I was after, the man that I had fought had shown a cold determination. If he had gained the advantage in our fight, then I did not doubt that he would not have hesitated in killing me if that was the only option he saw in protecting the items that I was after.

"Sir, permission to speak."

I turned my subordinate and gave him a hard and studying look before nodding. "Proceed." I verbally acknowledged his request.

My subordinate nodded and motioned to the screen. "Our target has been reaching out to contacts within the government. Would it be wise to go after them? I,"

A glare from me stopped my subordinate from speaking. He was speaking nonsense and that was a waste of my time. "We shall proceed as scheduled. That target will be mine and I will make that man pay. No one gets in my way without paying a price."

* * *

 **Sarah: *frowns* This is getting confusing. Why the heck was Oliver in a circus?**

 **Authoress: *sighs* That's really the only thing that is weird to you?**

 **Sarah: *shakes head* Of course not. It's just the most important bit.**

 **Authoress: *shakes head* Whatever you say. *Walks out***

 **Sarah:...What does that mean!? *chases after Authoress***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this. Miko's part did feel a little week and I'm sorry about that if it is. I had issues with trying to get that part to come together but this was the best that I could do. I needed Wheeljack here for the chapter after next. We'll see some divide in the Autobots on a scale that is going to mean a lot of fun...for me. XD But, on a side note, it seems like Ratchet experienced a lot on Dragonia. Plus...Seaspray! I picture him sounding like Quint from Jaws and I'm going to be developing him a bit more in chapters to come.** **Then, we get to Sarah's part and she is starting to dig around for information...and has discovered something very strange. It seems like things are starting to come to focus about this circus...*evil grin*. And that last scene...I'm not sure about you all but that seems very ominous...very very ominous. *black fog billows at feet***

 **Oh, and I threw a little Easter egg in the chapter somewhere that will give you a clue about the future. You'll have had to have read one of my older stories (that is still on this website) and you'll have to look very carefully. But, if you can find it, let me know in a P.M. I promise I'll let you know if you are correct. Next chapter has engines revving and a desire to kill come about...and that death may or may not happen depending on how things work out.**

 **Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now. Please leave a review, even if it is to say hi, so I can assure Marquis and the others that there are beings out there that care for the struggles that they are going through. So, until next time, TTYL! *singing about the way I talk XD ***


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